Another delay on Di Rimini: Time for a demolition order?

The owner of the unfinished 31-unit apartment building at 733 N. Capitol Ave. now hopes to sell the property instead of investing more than $1.5 million to bring it into code compliance. The land-use attorney for Stock Yards Bank & Trust told the Metropolitan Development Commission of the bank's intent at a meeting today, said Department of Metropolitan Development spokesman John Bartholomew. The bank requested a delay of a public hearing on the project until April 17. Stock Yards took over the property from a developer who put up a vastly different building than the one the city approved and had been working with city planners in a bid to salvage the project and the $2.8 million it lent the developer. "The MDC has expressed frustration this issue has not yet been resolved," Bartholomew wrote in an email. "The DMD will not sign off on any outside building change until code enforcement deems it safe." The city ordered construction stopped in 2010 after code enforcement and planning officials discovered Jeff Sparks was building a different structure than approved, including serious safety flaws. Despite the order, the owners began moving tenants into the building, leading the state's fire marshal to issue an emergency order barring occupancy. If the bank is no longer willing to take a loss and clean up the mess, maybe it's time for demolition.