Mount Vernon Antique Center demolition expected to start soon

The Mount Vernon Antique Center burned down Christmas night.

Demolition and removal of the Mount Vernon Antique Center’s remains are expected to begin sometime next week, the owner of the company contracted to do the work said Monday.

Geoff Young, owner of Bergrad Trails, said he hopes to begin work next week, and expects to finalize a specific start day later this week. He anticipates the demolition and removal will last about a week.

Bergrad Trails is an excavating and grading company that also specializes in demolition, drainage work, and erosion and sediment control.

The charred remains and wreckage of the Mount Vernon Antique Center have sat largely untouched since the building burned down in a massive Christmas night fire. The antique center was not open at the time of the fire and nobody was injured in the blaze, which gutted the entire structure and took hours to extinguish. An investigation into the fire could not determine an exact cause, although investigators believe it began on the second floor in the rear of the building.

The bright yellow antique mall at the corner of Mount Vernon Highway and Richmond Highway, owned by Sam Nasafi, was home to more than 30 vendors at the time of the blaze. Once known as “Thieves Market,” the center had operated at its location since the 1990s, and prior to that it was located in the Mount Vernon Plaza shopping center.

The building itself dated back to 1946, and it once served as a lumber yard and a furniture store.