ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – One of the largest and most iconic buildings in St. Augustine will look different for a while after the city closed its Lightner Museum and City Hall because of termite treatments.
The building will be tented until the treatment is complete, and several roads will be closed off around it, including:
- Granada Street from King Street to DeSoto Place
- Cordova Street is reduced to one lane, allowing northbound traffic only
- Cedar Street will temporarily allow two-way traffic between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Granada Street with access allowed only from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
The roads will reopen by 6 p.m. Monday. City Hall will reopen Wednesday, after the Fourth of July holiday.
The brightly colored tent had many people driving by snapping photos.
“It definitely doesn’t fit the town, but I assume it's something that is necessary to be done preserve the history of the building,” said Charlie Massingill, who was visiting from Waco, Texas.
He said he thought the building was a circus or children's venue until someone told him it was a museum.
The tents are necessary for pest crews to fumigate the building to get rid of drywood termites.
The city said the building was fumigated in 2003, but the termite problem came back.
“When we came out to do the inspection, it was obvious that there was termites,” said Raymond Kidwell, vice president of administration for McCall Service. “There was termite activity, there was evidence of termites, there was damages. So it was definitely something that needed to be done.”
Fumigating a structure of that size can be a challenge.
Three pest control companies from around the state and 31 crew members are working together on the project.
It was a lengthy process Friday as they hoisted 1,300-pound tarps over the building, using more than 33,000 clips to hold them all together.
“By doing this now we can really mitigate the damage and activity and hopefully push it out many, many years down the road before it becomes an issue that needs to be contended with again,” Kidwell said.
If all goes as planned, the tarps should start coming down Sunday.
The fumigation will cost the city $385,000. Officials said they expect additional costs from potential damage to the fragile tiles on the roof of the building.
An inspector will come in at the end of next week to analyze the damage and see how much it will cost to repair.