What’s up with the barricades at the Market Square Building in Belleville?
The city of Belleville has set up barriers and caution tape on the sidewalk in front of a downtown building because a decorative section of the roof’s cornice fell off.
One piece of the rigid foam material from the Market Square Building at the corner of East Main and North High streets was spotted on the ground Friday morning and another piece was removed later in the day, according to city Building Commissioner Steve Thouvenot.
Thouvenot said a piece also had fallen off the building about a year ago. The building’s address is 7 N. High St. but a portion of the building faces East Main Street. It was from this section of the building where the material fell on Friday. One piece of the building remained on the Main Street side sidewalk as of Monday.
“It definitely needs to be taken care of,” Thouvenot said.
Scott Tyler, director of Health, Housing & Building for the city, said he’s glad the sidewalk was blocked off before the busy downtown lunch hour.
“It was caught early,” he said.
Public Works Director Jason Poole said he saw the material below the building about 6 a.m. Friday and the street department was asked to barricade the sidewalk.
Keith Markus, who owns the building, said he is in the process of finding a contractor to fix the problem.
Thouvenot said he has spoken with Markus and plans to follow up with him this week because Thouvenot said he wants to inspect the roof, which may have a leak that is causing the material to come loose, he added.
Markus said the damage may have been caused by a thunderstorm last week.
Markus has the building at 7 N. High St., the adjacent building at 25 E. Main St. and a parking lot at East A and North Jackson streets listed for sale for $1.85 million. The listing for the three-parcel package is on LoopNet.com
According to the listing, the structures were built in 1910. There is 38,000 square footage of office space in the North High Street building and 6,658 in the one on East Main Street.
The material is attached to the cornice of the roof and is not necessary for the structural integrity of the four-story brick building so it can still be occupied by people.
Markus, who initially invested in the Market Square Building in 1987, said the foam material has a generic name of exterior insulation and finish systems, or EIFS, and it was installed in 1993.
This story was originally published July 22, 2025 at 10:40 AM.
