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Charleroi building suffers partial collapse during Coyle demo

By Scott Beveridge for The 2 min read
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CHARLEROI – A storage building next to the former Coyle Theater partially collapsed during the demolition of the historic movie house.

The property manager at the collapsed building and the demolition contractor are at odds over who was responsible for the problem.

“That building has been in bad shape for many years,” said Tim Schaaf of Bethel Park, the contractor who was hired to raze the Coyle at 331 McKean Ave.

“The Coyle was the stronger of the two buildings, and it was probably holding up that building,” Schaaf said Tuesday.

Charles Mrlack Jr., who manages 325 McKean, disagreed, saying the roof on his building was in “good shape” with no leaks.

“We had no problems with the building,” Mrlack said Monday.

The economic development group, Mon Valley Alliance, had purchased the Coyle from a nonprofit that struggled unsuccessfully to restore the theater. The alliance announced in July that it hired Schaaf to demolish the theater because time had run out on restoring the building.

Ben Brown, chief executive officer of the alliance, declined to comment on the partially collapsed building. Charleroi’s code officer, Bob Whiten Jr., said the borough instructed him not to comment on the situation because of possible litigation issues.

Mrlack said he discovered the damages to the rear portion of the building about a month ago after heavy equipment was used at the site.

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