Demolition begins at NAPA building in Heritage District

The demolition of the NAPA building began early Tuesday morning.

An excavator was on site clawing at the structure and loading debris into a truck.

The State of Arizona owns the property, which was condemned with the intent to demolish the building as part of the Department of Transportation overpass construction project. But that didn’t happen at the time.

Tom and Tena Dugan, owners of the business, closed the auto repair operation, Mel’s Auto, in February 2020 and moved repair equipment to their Stanfield location. The auto-parts store had remained open while they prepared for construction of a new building.

The Dugans had owned the Maricopa business since 2002 but did not own the historic building on North Maricopa Road in the Heritage District, just 20 feet from the new overpass.

In August 2019, the Maricopa City Council approved a contract to sell two acres of Estrella Gin Business Park on Edison Road to Mels’ Auto/NAPA for about $150,000. The Estrella Gin development broke ground in October.

ADOT had initially planned to take a small part of the NAPA property on its east side but then decided to initiate condemnation proceedings for the entire site, which was owned by Marathon Enterprises LLC of Casa Grande.

According to court records, ADOT paid $404,000 in earnest money to the Pinal County Clerk of the Court in 2017 for the property. In February 2019, a Superior Court Judge issued an amended order for immediate possession dependent on another cash bond of $485,850, as part of a lawsuit filed by the agency naming Mel’s Auto LLC, Marathon Enterprises and the Pinal County treasurer as defendants.

Earlier, the NAPA property belonged to Don Pearce, who bought it as Valley Auto Parts in 1959.

In their January 2020 announcement that Mel’s would close, the Dugans thanked the community for its support during the difficult time of overpass construction.

“We thank all our customers who have remained loyal since we took ownership in 2002,” they said in their statement. “Those of you who went above and beyond to utilize our service during the construction deserve a medal for braving the closures and police intervention to have your vehicles worked on. Please remember to utilize the ‘mom & pop’ businesses here in town. They are the ones that support our community and have the loyalty you have found with us. Thank you for 18 years of support of our auto repair.”