Fire Chief Scott Mason said that the roof of the building located between B B Rooners and Heggy’s Confectionary at 288 East State Street which formerly housed Kitchen Klassics and the law office of Earl Schory II caved in at roughly 1:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon. The cause of the collapse is unknown; but the building was scheduled to be demolished this week and had already been condemned and had its utilities switched off.

Mason said that while the initial collapse tore a canopy at B B Rooners nobody was injured.

“Luckily contractors weren’t there working yet or else somebody likely would have been inside when it collapsed,” said Mason.

A section of State Street was shut down following the partial collapse with detours posted from South Lincoln to Ellsworth Avenue, which Mason said would remain “closed until [the building] is on the ground and it’s safe.” Mason said that while the contractor would be taking the building down early for safety, with plans to demolish half of the building Sunday evening and the remaining half today, there was no timeline for when the demolitions would be completed, and State Street would be re-opened. He explained that the construction of the property — which shares a facade with the two adjacent businesses but has separate walls — and the close proximity of the three properties required careful demolition to avoid damage.

Mason said that debris from the beginning of the demolition process had also hit Heggy’s and would require repairs before the business could re-open, and that the utilities had been shut off to that building as well as a precaution.