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Chris Heinbaugh, Mayor Tom Leppert's chief of staff, told us a few weeks back that the city was close to working out deals with a few of those vacant buildings the mayor was none too happy about last October, when he gathered city officials -- including City Attorney Tom Perkins, Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez, Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Eddie Burns and DowntownDallas president John Crawford -- and essentially told property owners to clean up or sell out. Heinbaugh has further details via a media release sent out this morning: Most of the the most problematic properties have done what the city's asked, among them the owners of the former Statler Hilton on Commerce Street.

But, as city officials have been hinting for months, on the to-sue list is 508 Park Avenue, not good news for the space in which Robert Johnson recorded in June 1937, as though you need reminding at this late date. Says Perkins in the release you'll find in full after the jump, "We have made every effort to work with these property owners to bring their structures up to the very basic fire and building codes so that they are not a hazard or blight on downtown, but they haven't complied. They have left us no choice but to move forward on the legal front." Unfair Park has left messages for Bennett Glazer and Cary Rossell of Glazer's Distributors, longtime owners of the property, and Realtor Candace Rubin, who's trying to sell it on their behalf. Perkins and Heinbaugh just told Unfair Park the lawsuit should be filed any moment, at which point we'll post in a separate item.

Press Release Downton Vacant Bldgs Action