$500,000 to demolish?

No, not Grace Hall.

Somebody thinks it may cost about $500,000 to demolish "Tyvek Tower", that monstrosity on the northeast corner of Routes 31-62 in downtown Algonquin.

I think I drove by on about the last day a construction worker was on that site. In weeks before I had wondered about the boards that were holding up the concrete-slab balconies and the slant of some of those balconies, and I also wondered which would be the first to crash to the ground under the weight of party guests or residents trying to enjoy the view of a late-afternoon rush-hour traffic jam on Route 31.

Wasn't half-a-mill the figure that was tossed at the Woodstock City Council as the cost of demolishing Grace Hall? Or something close to it?

And that same figure is being knocked about for tearing down the unfinished Riverside Square? That building is taller, longer, wider. Was Grace Hall to be taken down brick-by-brick by union tradesmen with high hourly wage protection?

I also read this week that the Historic Preservation Commission in Algonquin had not favored that building. Its decision was passed over by the trustees of the Village of Algonquin. It was a money-grab by Algonquin, gone bad.