The forces that kept Home Depot out of North Bend are the same that have kept the Lockhart Building in disrepair. That was the rationale provided Tuesday by the Lockhart property’s manager, Gary Mountain, who purchased the building at 335 Central Ave., in Coos Bay, in 2005.

Earlier this week, the city of Coos Bay declared the building dangerous. There are maintenance problems with the roof, which must be addressed soon or the city could demolish the building.

Mountain said he has devised a way to address the city’s concerns, but he still wants to follow his initial plans. His dream is to build a four-story office building.

Ausland Builders of Grants Pass prepared a schematic phase budget in May 2007, outlining the costs of the rebuild. The price tag came to $7.4 million. The project did not proceed further, however, because of a lack of revenue, Mountain said. So far, investors have raised only $950,000 and the poor economy has made it difficult to borrow the difference.

“In the current market a developer/builder would have an impossible time to get any bank in Coos Bay to fund a Speculative Construction loan to build our proposed 46,000 square feet office building,” said Gary Mountain in an e-mail Tuesday.

Mountain said the Lockhart Building site is appealing because of its downtown location, as well as nearby free parking. He said he was aware of the Lockhart Building’s damaged roof when he purchased it from local contractor Dale Kinyon.

Mountain said the roof leaks, but he doesn’t believe it poses a safety risk. The city of Coos Bay disagrees. After receiving a structural report from SHN Consulting, it declared the building dangerous Monday and is demanding Mountain provide plans on how the building can be repaired. If it doesn’t hear from him, the city could make repairs or tear down the building itself.

Mountain said he has asked his investors to come up with $120,000 to repair the damaged roof.

“The work that is being required will be lost at some future time when the building is removed and a new structure built. It is a shame that this additional cost has to be spent,” he wrote.

“Even large corporations like Home Depot did not move forward in these troubled times. We are no different and must wait,” he added.

Mountain did not respond to a question about whether he is selling property, including cars and office furniture, on craigslist.com. He also did not verify how the original $950,000 was spent, a question some of his investors have raised.