Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
The Shawano Redevelopment Authority will discuss a possible raze order for the former Ponderosa building when it convenes on Tuesday, and consider action on two other properties owned by the Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology.
The vacant Ponderosa restaurant at 1247 E. Green Bay St. was originally one of 15 properties included in a sweeping, half-million-dollar foreclosure suit against SIST.
The action was dismissed after VDG LLC reached an apparent agreement with the creditor, Wells Fargo Bank of Dallas. Details were not disclosed and are not filed in the court record.
The Ponderosa was carved out of that agreement and set aside for foreclosure.
VDG paid $330,000 to purchase the building at a sheriff’s sale in June.
VDG was incorporated in July 2015, according to the state Department of Financial Institutions, shortly before the suit was dismissed. No other information about VDG is available.
SIST purchased the Ponderosa Steak House in 2003. The restaurant closed its doors in 2008 and the property has been sitting vacant since then.
The city sent a letter to VDG in October stating that the building “is dilapidated and so out of repair as to be dangerous, unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise unfit for human habitation, occupancy or use.”
The letter from Zoning Administrator and Building Inspector Brian Bunke ordered that the building be razed and removed.
VDG was later given a deadline of Jan. 1 to remove the building, and was told that failure to remove it would mean possibly taking the matter to court.
Jeffery Phillips, an attorney representing VDG, replied in December that the company was evaluating offers on the Ponderosa property and was expecting to sell it within the next three months.
He requested a 90-day extension and stated VDG would raze the building after that time if none of the offers are accepted.
He also asked for a list of other SIST properties facing potential raze orders so that VDG could address those as well.
In addition to the Ponderosa, the RDA will take up two other SIST properties on its blight elimination priority list.
The properties at 143 S. Main St. and 214 S. Main St. were inspected in May by health and safety officials who reported significant water damage, mold and structural problems at 214 S. Main St. that could cause a portion of that building to collapse.
The RDA will meet at 7 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 127 S. Sawyer St.