Out with the old, in with the new

Jul. 27—Growing up, Tom and Bob Madget might have felt like kids with a sweet tooth who learn that dad owns a candy store.

Andrew Madget, however, isn't selling bonbons. Madget Demolition, a family business formed in 1960, tears down buildings. This type of work appealed to his sons, both of whom received business degrees from Missouri Western State University.

"Pretty much," said Tom Madget, who also played football at Missouri Western. "I've always been good and breaking stuff and tearing stuff down."

There's been plenty of that lately. The company performed demolition work on two high-profile projects that will change the face of Downtown and the South Side. Madget completed the demolition of the Livestock Exchange Building on Illinois Avenue and is wrapping up its work clearing out the former Holiday Inn hotel.

"This project Downtown has been going pretty smooth," Tom Madget said. "We were able to bring it down in about three or four days. Now it's just sorting through this mess and hauling away concrete."

All that's left of the hotel, which was located at 102 S. Third St., is a few large piles of concrete and twisted steel amid a dusty landscape. The demolition resulted in 500 tons of steel and 300 loads of concrete that need to be sent off for scrap or taken to the city landfill.

For Madget, business is booming. Starting in 2020, the company demolished the former Wire Rope Corporation buildings to make way for Hillyard's national distribution center in Downtown St. Joseph. Madget also demolished a hospital in Horton, Kansas, and another structure in Sabetha.

"For the past three or four years we've been pretty dang busy," Tom Madget said.

The Livestock Exchange and hotel projects were highly visible, but both are outliers in the broader sense of demolition in St. Joseph. Most projects involve residential rather than commercial structures. Many are deemed unsafe, often after a fire or years of neglect, and the city initiates demolition after giving an owner the chance to correct the deficiency and holding a public hearing.

"If the hearing officer rules that the building is unsafe, he can order the structure to be demolished," said Clint Thompson, the city's director of planning and community development. "In the code itself, there is a definition of what a dangerous building is."

Thompson said the City Council has doubled the amount of money available for demolitions to $350,000 in the current budget. He said the city needs to strike a balance between removing derelict structures and working with property owners on what can be secured and eventually rehabilitated.

So far this year, the city has issued demolition permits for 56 residential structures and five other buildings like garages and sheds. It also approved nine commercial demolition permits in 2023, including the Holiday Inn and Livestock Exchange Building.

"Those two are both private demolitions," Thompson said. "The city did not deem the structure a dangerous building, although the Exchange Building had issues as far as needing to be secured."

Albaugh, an agri-chemical company on the South Side, bought the Livestock Exchange Building after it had remained vacant for years. Albaugh officials decided to tear down the structure, which was built in 1899, after deciding it was beyond repair.

All that remains today is the distinctive entry arch that stands in an empty field, like the ruins of an ancient temple in the Roman Forum. The demolition contractor said the historic Livestock Exchange Building evoked stronger emotions than many other buildings that get torn down.

"There were a lot of sore people, throwing a fit, saying we shouldn't be tearing it down," Tom Madget said. "They would be driving down the street yelling at us. We're like, 'We're just doing our job.'"

Mostly, the Madget brothers find the job rewarding. They take pride in knowing that for something new to go up, they are called upon the clear out the old.

"There is a sense of pride," Bob Madget said. "We're homegrown and have been in St. Joe our whole lives. It's fun to do things in our hometown."

The company has come full circle with the Downtown hotel. Madget Demolition cleared the site in the 1970s to make way for the hotel that eventually became the Holiday Inn. Now that building is gone so a new Courtyard by Marriott can be built.

"Tearing down old stuff and rebuilding, it's always good for the economy," Tom Madget said.

Greg Kozol can be reached at greg.kozol@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowKozol.