From our online reporter, Tim Harlow:

It’s been nearly a year since someone torched Lee’s Cleaners and Laundry, a vibrant family-run business in south Minneapolis’ Whittier neighborhood for more than 40 years.

Since then, the charred remains have stood at the corner of 26th Street and 1st Av. S., the roof gone, siding peeling, a long strip of metal dangling onto the sidewalk.

Owner Lisa Poppenhagen says the blighted building is finally going to be demolished and hauled away.

“It should be torn down in a about a week,” she said. “I’m tired of looking at it.”

Poppenhagen said she had hoped to rebuild, but “plans were not working out,” she said. The process was taking too long and in the end she said it would be too costly to secure financing for new equipment, she said. Instead she’ll spend $30,000 to have the building knocked down.

Authorities have ruled that arson is behind the blaze that broke out on the morning of May 26. Minneapolis Arson Investigator Sean McKenna said the fire was set on the outside of the building near a shed. A gas can was recovered from the wreckage.

McKenna said authorities are confident that they know who did the misdeed, but the perpetrator will likely get off scot-free. “We can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt; we’ve not been able to produce quite enough evidence.”

If you know of other neighborhood eyesores, tell Whistleblower about them.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 9:27 am and is filed under Neighborhood nuisances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.