The Athens City Council held a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 24, during its regularly scheduled meeting to discuss a proposed resolution regarding the abatement of the old Shoney’s building, located at 1402 U.S. Highway 72 E. 

The building, which was originally closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been deemed unsafe and a public nuisance by Erik Waddell, the city’s chief building inspector. Waddell mentioned that they have been working with the building’s owner’s attorneys for the better part of a year.

“The building is going to end up coming down one way or another,” Waddell said. “We prefer that the city not spend a penny on the project, but if we lean it for $40,000 that lean is not going to stand long. It’s a million dollar property; somebody is going to be willing to pay for that.”

Waddell said that the building’s structure is in desperate need of repairs due to storm damage and rot damage to the roof, which he said would need to be completely replaced.

“There are some things they would need to have to do should they decide to save the building,” Waddell said. “They can still do that, but the quotes would be twice as high — if not more — to do that work rather than demolition. No new restaurant would want to go in that building with the shape that it is in, so it is going to end up resolving itself.”

During the public hearing, Waddell answered an array of questions from District 2 Representative Harold Wales regarding his recommendation to extend a vote on the matter for 30 days — until the council’s March 24 meeting. 

“The owner asked for a 30 day delay in action. I can’t tear it down in 30 days anyway, so there’s no harm in us giving them a 30-day extension to sign a contract with their prospective national account,” Waddell said. “If they do that, then that’s great for Athens, because we’ll have a new entity going in on that property. So, that 30 days will give them time to figure it all out.”

The council agreed to not vote on the resolution, siding with Waddell’s recommendation to wait the 30 days. Athens City Council President James Lucas explained why he came to the decision to hold off on the vote: “I don’t have a problem with waiting the 30 days, because it would take that long before they could even start anything there, anyways,” Lucas said. “I enjoyed Shoney’s when it was there, but I would like to see something go there. I don’t know why the owners have not done anything so far, but if they are making progress in getting another business in there — especially a restaurant — then I am all for giving them the time to figure it out.”