WICKER PARK — After a collapse of a portion of Mision Cristina Church early Monday, the city determined that the building can't be salvaged and ordered demolition to begin immediately. The work continued through sundown Monday and is expected to be finished by the end of the day Tuesday, workers said.
The Department of Buildings confirmed Monday afternoon that they had issued an order for the entire church to come down and were working with the building owner to make arrangements for "cleanup and demolition of the remaining portion of the building," according to Mimi Simon, a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings.
"We are working with the building owner to ensure the property is safe and in accordance with the building code," Simon said.
An investigation into the collapse is pending.
"There is somebody responsible for this," Chicago Fire Department Chief Dan Cunningham said on the scene early Monday.
Simon said a building permit had been requested to convert the property into a single family residence, but said "the permit has not been approved and any work done on this building was unauthorized."
John Conrad Schiess, an architect hired by the developers, was onsite at the demolition Monday afternoon and said developers are "disappointed" that the church could not be saved.
State records show the church is owned by Development Management Holdings, an entity headed by Alex Zdanov and Igor Blumin of Northbrook-based Interforum Holdings, who were leading the redevelopment.
Blumin and Zdanov were not at the scene and did not return calls seeking comment, however, Blumin later reached out to DNAinfo to express that the incident was "devastating."
The loss of the church was emotional for some community members who have deep ties to the building, which has stood at 1903-05 W. Schiller St. for nearly 100 years.
Mayra Velez, a former member of Mision Cristiana, was standing behind caution tape Monday to witness the demolition of the church around 2 p.m. Velez was baptized at the church.
"There are a lot of memories here and a lot of generations," Velez said. "I heard it collapsed, and came to see if I could witness it. I got a brick from one of the workers. One of the construction guys came with a police officer to me. I had asked the police for something."
In addition to the irreparable damage to the building, the collapse severely damaged 10 cars parked near the scene, and a total of 20 had to be towed from the area. Anyone whose car was damaged is asked to call a hotline at 312-286-0906.
Early Tuesday, Mitchell Ginsburg, a project manager for Interforum Holdings, said that the entire church is expected to be removed and the site cleaned up.
Ginsburg said that the church cross, doors and windows were given to former parishioners who flocked to the demolition site and asked for the items.
When asked if he knows the cause of the collapse, Ginsburg said he would just be guessing and that the matter is under investigation.
Ginsburg said that the developers will again go through the community process to get plans approved, as they had done with the church redevelopment. If everything goes as planned, work would begin this spring, he said.
Raymond Valadez, chief of staff to Ald. Joe Moreno (1st), said on Tuesday that "assuming that [the developers] will be submitting a different development plan, they will need to start the community review process [with the Wicker Park Committee] all over again."
Since the site includes three adjacent addresses, Blumin wanted to emphasize that he had originally applied for interior demolition and then three separate permits for the construction because there are three addresses for the church.
Blumin said he had gotten permits to do work at 1909 and 1911 W. Schiller St. in early September and was waiting on permits for 1907 W. Schiller St.
Blumin shared copies of his permits with DNAinfo and said he and Zdanov are planning to meet with neighborhood groups and "discuss different possibilities" and want those conversations to take place "sooner than later."
The first priority, Blumin said, is to make everything secure, clear the site and remove any hazards.
“Safety was our main concern and we are sorry that this happened," Blumin said. He added, "It could not have happened at a better time, in middle of night, with nobody walking by."
The church's cross and some of its stained glass windows were given to a member of the board of Holy Resurrection Serbian Church in Humboldt Park and Palmer St in Chicago, according to Blumin.
View of former Mision Cristina from #wickerpark dog park pic.twitter.com/kBqqpgBavD
— Alisa Hauser (@DNA_WPB) October 25, 2016
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here.
