The city has contracted with R.E. Kelley to survey and remove loose bricks from the Furniture Mart Building. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

City officals hope to have a portion of West Second Street in front of the Furniture Mart Building reopened by the end of the week weather permitting.

West Second, at the corner of Washington Street, has remained closed to traffic since bricks fell from the building’s facade late last month.

“The goal is to try and get Second Street opened back up before the end of this week,” Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, said. “The contractor R.E. Kelley out of the Buffalo area continues to survey the building itself, just making sure they have a good grasp on what parts of the facade might be loose and need to be removed just for safety’s sake.”

Surdyk said the main issue is the brick layer at the top on three sides of the Furniture Mart Building. She said the side along Washington Street appears to be in better condition.

“It’s really just a matter of age and when water kind of gets behind those layers of brick,” she said, noting that over time, water can build up behind the brick layer through access points such as the parapet.

Since the building is more than 100 years old, Surdyk said the brick layer is in need of repair; however, the structural integrity of the building remains strong.

“There’s nothing structural in danger,” she said. “The structure itself is in very good condition.”

As of Tuesday, surveying work continued at the top of the building.

“They’re just surveying and will begin removing however many courses of brick starting at the top and working their way down that they feel is necessary,” Surdyk said.

Netting will be installed when the contractor begins removing loose bricks from the building. “The goal is to try and get things situated and some safety mechanisms in place so that they can reopen that section of Second Street,” Surdyk said.

Any loose bricks will be removed and made safe for people to pass by along the road. Future additional repairs will also be needed for the building.

“A plan will be put together to restore that down the road when the time comes,” Surdyk said. “Right now, it’s really just getting it stabilized.”

While the road could reopen this week, the city expects the removal of the remaining bricks to take a couple more weeks.

“I would expect another two to three weeks realistically,” Surdyk said.