Some say it’s an icon and others say an eyesore, but Cocoa Beach city commissioners are hoping to do something about it tonight.
The Glass Bank Building is located at the entrance to downtown Cocoa Beach, where A1A splits into Orlando and Atlantic avenues.
This building has been deteriorating for years. The city fines the owners $200 every day. They now face, to date, $161,600 in city code violations.
The Glass Bank Building was built in the 1960s and is still considered a Cocoa Beach landmark. However, it’s now rundown and dangerous with plywood covering its windows.
The community is tired of it.
The mayor said at a citizens academy meeting earlier this week, it was on the top of the list for things they wanted to see changed in Cocoa Beach.
“I would like to see the problem solved, and that definition could be anything from remodeling the building, making the repairs, to bulldozing the building, to putting in the hands of a third party who will put love and care into the building, I just want to see the problem solved,” said Mayor Dave Netterstrom.
The commission is going to get an update on the on-going legal battle over this building Thursday night.
The owners of the property are suing the sole occupant, who lives on the top floor. He’s counter-suing the Glass Building Condominiums association.
The mayor hopes they can mediate the situation and even perhaps provide incentives for the owners or a third party to do something with the building sooner rather than later.
There has even been talk that because it’s so close to other services, like the post office and library, it could be used by the city, perhaps even as a new city hall.