MASON CITY – A prominent historic warehouse near downtown Mason City that collapsed in 2021 allegedly cost the city tens-of-thousands of dollars in ongoing expenses and the city council has accepted a negotiated agreement in the matter.
The city council unanimously accepted an agreement at their meeting on October 23 that seems to have put to rest a contentious matter between the owner of Highway 18 LLC (Vance Jorgensen dba Vance Jorgensen Law Firm) and his insurance company one one side and the city of Mason City on the other. City documents say, “participation in this settlement will allow the city to recoup costs related to the traffic control and structural evaluation of the building at 503 S Federal Avenue (which is now demolished). The city will receive $30,000 and release all claims against Cincinnati Insurance Company and the owner at the time of the incident, Highway 18 LLC. While this will not cover all costs incurred during the structure failure ($65,166.92), it will cover a significant portion of the costs incurred and is the best outcome to resolve the issue without continuing legal costs and risking a potential ruling not in the city’s favor.”
NIT reported back in June of 2021 that the Historic Warehouse at 503 South Federal had suffered a partial collapse. Police reported at the time, “We’ve had a partial building collapse at 6th St., Southwest and S. Federal Ave. Roads are blocked off in the area. Please use other routes instead of Federal and Highway 122.”
Roadways, sidewalks and an alley remained closed or partially closed for months as the building slowly deteriorated. Relations between Jorgensen and the city reached a stalemate when he demanded Mason City “cease making unreasonable demands” as he outlined in a news release special to NIT in September of 2021. In this public news release, nearby road construction that had previously been completed was blamed for the building’s deteriorating condition.
“Highway 18 LLC believes that the damage to its property, and part of the reason why the east parapet wall collapsed, is directly related to the reconstruction of highway 122 in 2018,” the release said. “During said reconstruction project, on August 14, 2018, eleven events were recorded that exceeded the project vibration limit.”
Now, the matter appears to be settled before trial, and the remaining property has since been sold off to a local developer.
Typical spoiled brat loser Vance Jorgensen. P*ss poor lawyer and person.
Wonder how much he made…