The second floor of Renaissance Book Shop has boxes of books lining the floor. Credit: Photo courtesy of Milwaukee City Attorney's Office

By of the

The Renaissance Book Shop building in downtown Milwaukee is likely headed for demolition.

An inspection of the property at 834 N. Plankinton Ave. found a "damaged and deteriorated building with sections of the building in a state of collapse or very near collapse," a raze order issued Friday by the City of Milwaukee said.

The building is now "unfit for human habitation, further occupancy or use and is unreasonable to repair," according to the order, which was issued by the city's Department of Neighborhood Services.

"There's been significant sinking and shifting of walls and support beams," said Kail Decker, assistant city attorney. "The building is full of different books, periodicals and papers."

The city took the bookstore's owner, Robert John, to court this year to force him to restore the building or pay for its demolition. Then, after getting a warrant that allowed officials to inspect the property last month, city officials issued the order Friday to raze and remove the building.

"The city is not looking to front any money for him," Decker said. "It would be him fronting the money for the costs."

Decker said he didn't know how many thousands of books remain in the four-story building, but said the top three levels are packed. He added that many of the books are wet and mold-damaged, and some have fallen into the middle of the aisles as bookshelves appear to have toppled.

"There are a lot of moisture issues in the building that are causing the floors to warp," Decker said.

Bookstore closed

John has owned the decaying building since the 1970s. He also operates a used book shop at Mitchell International Airport.

"We are reviewing the order and considering our options since the city filed the lawsuit," said John's attorney, David Halbrooks.

The city has battled with John for years over the condition of the property, and closed the bookstore in 2011 after an engineer's inspection found structural problems with the historic building, which was built in 1900.

The city gained access to the building for an inspection last month after obtaining a warrant, Decker said.

Ron Roberts, manager of the condemnation and commercial division of the Department of Neighborhood Services, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Due to the condition of the building, it's likely that it will have to be demolished, Decker said.

The order said the conditions requiring the building to be razed include a number of problems, including defective areas of the foundation walls, foundation, beams and columns, roof covering, gutters, stairs, ceiling and floor coverings.

Repair 'unreasonable'

It also said that, because the cost to fix the property would be so high, such repairs are "presumed unreasonable," and the building is a public nuisance. The city assesses the property at $352,000 for tax purposes.

"The city respects the historical nature of the building," Decker said. "It's hard to see a historic building go down like this, but neglect has put it in this condition."