Not just any building comes down

Demolition began Monday on the building at the corner of Highway 43 and Central Avenue, on the site of the city's first retail business.

The building featured a mural depicting various scenes of Shafter. During the city's centennial celebration in 2013, the city acquired funding to hire an artist to create the mural.

"On that corner, Charles Shomate established the first retail business in Shafter in 1914. He replaced his original building with the brick building now being demolished in l919. Even though no organization has ever nominated it to be a historical building, it had historical significance because it was the first retail establishment in Shafter," Stan Wilson of the Shafter Historical Society explained.

According to Wilson, Shomate had a general store selling groceries, dry goods and hardware. Later, Shomate added to the structure with an addition that housed a drug store, and also the post office. When Shomate became county recorder, he sold the business to Midgley & Walker. Later, the store became Hemingson's Shafter Mercantile, then Western Auto, and most recently, the Super Discount Center.

Dr. Michael F. Hair Sr., the property owner, said he demolished the building because it did not meet state standards for reinforcement. "It is not earthquake-proof. It is an unreinforced concrete building, and because of that, it would need a lot of reinforcement, and it still wouldn't be safe. We decided to take it down."

Hair noted that his company has demolished several unreinforced masonry buildings in Shafter, estimating about six over the years. Often made of brick or lacking rebar (steel reinforcement), such structures risk collapsing during earthquakes. The state has mandated either reinforcing or demolishing these buildings. Regarding the corner buildings on Highway 43 and Central Avenue, Hair said reinforcement was not a viable option. "They're old, and we want to put a more modern type of business at that location."

On Monday, he explained the timeline for the demolition, "We took down part of the building behind the alley some time ago, but this building has some nuances because it has a brick wall next to the highway and a basement. The building will be down in three or four days. After that, we'll bring soil and compaction materials to fill the basement. By the end of January, the entire area should be cleaned up and looking nice. You'll be able to see all the land we have there."

The future for the space is still to be determined. "I don't know yet what we will put there," Hair said. "We'll see if someone wants to develop a commercial building. For now, we're focusing on getting it nice and leveled."