A semi driver attempting to do a U-turn on Main Street struck a building, causing the downtown Greenwood street to close and the building to be in danger of collapsing, police said.
American Business Insurance, located at 320 W. Main St., sustained major structural damage as a result of the hit-and-run crash that police said happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, Greenwood Police Department spokesperson Kortney Burrello said.
A witness told police a semi was trying to do a U-turn on Main Street and struck the building just west of Madison Avenue. On Sunday, city officials closed westbound Main Street, west of Madison Avenue, because they were concerned the front of the building could collapse into the street, she said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryEmployees were able to come to work Monday at American Business Insurance, but could not go into the front of the building, vice president Derek Lacy said.
They do not have an estimate yet of how much the repairs will cost, he said.
“It appears that the semi even cracked the cornerstone of the building, which is a huge limestone block,” Lacy said.
One potential complication to repairs is the fact that work on repairing the American Business Insurance building’s facade as part of a $1.4 million project to redo 22 downtown Greenwood buildings had already begun, Lacy said.
Scaffolding to protect the building from the elements had already been put up, and some work had been underway, Lacy said.
New windows had been ordered as part of the project, but had not yet been installed, he said.
“Luckily they didn’t go in on Friday to be destroyed on Saturday,” Lacy said.
The Greenwood Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed the crash or has any information to contact them at 317-882-9191.
