Former tenant of collapsed Delphi building says structure was damaged for years

The roof on the building at 106 E.

Main Street in Delphi collapsed on August 14th.

A former tenant of the building says the structure of the building has been damaged for years.

Has the approval to be demolished.

News 18's anna darling talked to a former tenant who says he knew the building was destined to collapse six years ago.

"i couldn't believe what i had seen" randall felix lived in the apartment on the second floor of this building in downtown delphi from 2010-2014.

He said the roof problems were obvious.

"there was mold just growing up the walls and i mean, it was so bad we were all getting sick" felix took dozens of photos of the damage.

You can see parts of the ceiling collapsed with rot and water stains on the walls.

He said when he told the previous owner about it, nothing was done.

"he would not do no maintenance on that building at all.

I kept telling him that there is something wrong with the roof and i knew it was going to fall, i knew" it finally did collapse on august 14th.

Delphi mayor anita werling says it collapsed because the central drain on the roof became clogged leading to severe water damage.

"it leaked everywhere and it caused damage all throughout the whole apartment" thomas wisler and any day now llc in logansport owned the building from 2006 until 2016.

That's when current owner erik hageman took ownership.

Hageman says the plan is to have the building demolished by january so they can rebuild it.

He says the building collapsed the day before they had plans to fix the clogged drain.

"i was afraid someone was going to die if they moved into that place but nobody ever moved in after i moved out in 2014."

The delphi board of works placed the building on continuous enforcement order.

Meaning hageman can proceed with his plan while the city monitors the progress.

Anna darling news 18 the original building is more than 100 years old.

(hay-guh-man) hageman says they will try to salvage as much as they can of the historic building.