Aberdeen’s Public Works Department has blocked off a portion of sidewalk and parking spaces in front of an unstable building on East Heron Street, in order to prevent potential injuries if a portion collapses.

According to Aberdeen City Engineer Kris Koski, the owner of the building — located at 419 E. Heron St. — was issued a letter on Aug. 31 demanding that they close the sidewalk prior to Sept. 10, or the city would close it off themselves.

“The date came and passed, so the city went ahead and closed the sidewalk,” said Koski. “The city did this work to capture it if it does does collapse.”

Falcon Real Estate Group LLC, which is based in Bellevue and owns the building, has been working with engineers and architects for several months to figure out the best option to make the building safe, according to Falcon Real Estate broker Alexey Sokolov.

“Hopefully, we get to redevelop the property with keeping the original architecture highlights — like parts of the facade — it’s always best to save as much as possible of history in beautiful buildings of the 20th century,” said Sokolov.

Sokolov said there’s no timeline yet for when the building would be restabilized. When standing on the sidewalk next to the building, it appears that one section of the second floor begins pulling away further from the building as it approaches the top, where the roof has already collapsed.

The repairs could require some demolition, Sokolov said.

“It may be necessary to remove the top portion of the building and then we could possibly keep the first level — it has custom steel beams reinforcing the brick,” he said.

In terms of what’s next for the building, Sokolov said he hopes to someday see a coffee shop and pizzeria on the first floor, and then have separate units on the upper levels with a rooftop deck and a view of the city.