One Jim Thorpe Borough councilman called it a “dog’s breakfast” and municipal officials are hopeful that 204 Center Ave. will soon be nothing more than a memory.

Jim Thorpe plans to vote Thursday night on an engineering proposal that would kick-start the process of demolishing the property, long considered one of the town’s most significant eyesores.

“I will be glad to see that thing torn down,” said Councilman Jay Miller. “It’s an absolute mess. Sickening.”

Jim Thorpe spearheaded a blight remediation pilot program with Palmerton and Lehighton boroughs that netted a combined $300,000 in state funding in May to address such properties.

“We’re talking with Barry Isett right now to make sure the proposal would include an inspection of the building so that they can give us a written determination that it should be razed,” Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said.

According to the grant application, $118,853 is proposed for use on any of five properties in Jim Thorpe listed for reconstruction/rehabilitation, $181,147 toward the demolition of a Lehighton property, Palmerton duplex structure and Jim Thorpe residence. With local and private match, $32,326 is allocated to renovations and $24,708 toward demolition for a total program budget of $354,390.

Lehighton is looking to demolish a property at 209 First St., while Palmerton is looking to demolish 509-511 Lehigh Ave.

Sterner said the Jim Thorpe property demolition will have to be bid, a process that will occur after the engineering work is finished.

“This really shouldn’t fall in the municipality’s lap or the taxpayers’ lap, but this is the right move to do this right now and I’m thankful we got the grant,” Council President Greg Strubinger said. “When a property owner abandons or doesn’t take care of their property, you know we’re all held hostage.”

The borough has unsuccessfully tried to track down the owners of 204 Center Ave. for years.

“The current property owners are using that address as their address so we don’t have any idea who they are because the previous owner didn’t report the sale to us,” Sterner said.”

Several years ago, the borough paid for a company to clean up the 204 Center Ave. property, which was done for fire safety reasons. There have also been roofing and other zoning violations at the site.

“We spent $6,000 or $8,000 just to clean the place out,” Miller said. “I’ve mentioned this before, but I’d like to see someday down the road where we open up a land bank to continue to do these things.”

The money going to Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Palmerton boroughs comes from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Blight Remediation Program. Whether it will continue, however, is in doubt.

“We were lucky because this was a new grant and I don’t know that it will happen again,” Sterner said. “I’m hearing inklings that it will not.”