The former Imperial hotel on Douglas seafront was one of a list of run down properties discussed at a council meeting.
Councillors heard work to demolish the building had been stopped when it emerged there were no plans in place for a new development to fill the gap.
Council leader David Christian described the building as an eyesore on Douglas promenade.
‘This building has a chequered history but I want to know what work is being done. There is scaffolding and green netting around it but is any work actually going on? Are they ripping the inside out or are they refurbishing it?’ he asked. Most of the buildings along the seafront were in good repair but this one was letting the area down, he said.
Councillor Ritchie Mc Nicholl said the owners were required to repair the building or redevelop it. It had been shrouded in scaffolding for months but he said engineering work was continuing inside the building which was why no visible progress had been made recently. An update is being sought.
Turning to other buildings in the capital, Councillor McNicholl said the plot of land opposite the central post office on Regent Street was at the centre of a legal wrangle about who was responsible for completing demolition work. He said contractors had been employed to demolish a building but had failed to finish the work by rendering and sealing the exposed end wall of the remaining property. Who was responsible for completing the work was under discussion, he said.
Council leader David Christian said the plot looked terrible, particularly in a regeneration area: ‘Something needs to be done either to rebuild on that plot or to take down the wooden buttresses supporting the wall, re-render that gable end and make it good,’ he said.
Other areas giving concern were Villiers Square and 14 and 15 South Quay in Douglas. Mr McNicholl said progress there had been slow: ‘One of the properties is owned by someone in Ireland who comes over each year and does a bit. His neighbour says if next door is doing nothing then why should he. So that’s where we are with that.’
He said they had been told some work to a house on Prince’s Street, recently the subject of a court hearing which saw the owner fined, was to start in mid January,