A chill hung in the air on Friday morning as a small crew made quick work of tearing down what remained of a 105-year-old home on Cherry Street just south of downtown Olathe.
It was a small, single-story house. The front door was long since boarded up, and a small mailbox sticking out of a planter bore the house number with spray painted digits.
The work began shortly after 8 a.m., after a team of police officers made sure no one was inside the house.
It didn’t take long to fully demolish the property at 413 S. Cherry St. bit by bit, but it had taken a long time to get to this point.
The home had been uninhabitable and without utility service for more than a dozen years after it was “significantly damaged” by a fire in 2012, according to city documents. That being said, there is some evidence that the property owner was staying on the property outside of the home.
It wasn’t until after years of back and forth on serious code violations — some so severe the city declared it “a health and safety nuisance” about two years ago — and another fire on the property that the city ultimately demolished it.
Neighbors worried about the property too. Jennifer Winchester, who also lives on Cherry Street, called it “hazardous.” She said she wished the “situation had been handled sooner.”
“Twelve years seems like enough time to wait for a resolution,” she said.
The fire at 413 S. Cherry St. on Jan. 19, 2025
After 5 p.m., the Olathe Fire Department was dispatched to the home at 413 S. Cherry St. due to reports of a possible explosion. Neighbors reported hearing a series of explosions.
According to radio traffic from the incident, first responders were advised to use caution, though a reason for the warning was not given.
Within a couple of minutes, an Olathe Fire Battalion Chief was at the scene, discovering a fire in the backyard that was up against the house. The call was upgraded to a full-alarm house fire.
It took about 15 minutes to get the fire under control. In contrast, it took several hours to put out the 2012 electrical fire, Olathe’s Chief Building Official Ryan Arter said previously.
Around 6 p.m. the night of the more recent fire, Loren Brownlee, the 77-year-old property owner, was arrested by Olathe Police on a “municipal order violation” and another unspecified offense, and he was booked in the county jail shortly afterward.
As of Monday morning, he remained at the New Century Adult Detention Center, held on a $4,000 bond ahead of a February court date at the Olathe Municipal Court.
What led to this point?
In the nearly 13 years since the first fire, the city says it has been working to resolve the issues at 413 S. Cherry St.
“The owner and the City of Olathe have engaged in numerous discussions and remediation attempts since 2012 with every attempt for repair and to keep the property owner in a safe living arrangement,” Olathe’s Chief Communications Officer Cody Kennedy told the Post.
Last summer, the city of Olathe officially initiated proceedings toward eventually demolishing the home. At the Olathe City Council meeting on Sept. 3, following a public hearing during which the homeowner spoke, the structure was officially declared “unsafe and dangerous.”
All of that is part of the statutory process Kansas municipal governments can utilize to deal with unsafe structures on private property, which also includes notices, mailed correspondence and other steps.
The homeowner was given 30 days “to commence repairs or demolition of the structure” on his own, or the city would have it torn down. At the time, he indicated that he had someone interested in buying the property and said it could be valuable as a commercial property.
He also accused a neighbor of hiring someone to burn down his house back in 2012 and insinuated that the city had taken away his personal belongings when it had taken previous remediation steps on his property.
Chris Grunewald, deputy city attorney, said the property owner would need to have engineer plans and a city permit by the Oct. 3 deadline to show sufficient proof of intent toward repairs or demolition. The property owner missed the deadline.
Kennedy said the city had finalized demolition paperwork as of the week of Jan. 13, and demolition was scheduled for the morning of Jan. 24.
When asked directly about the length of time between the first fire and the eventual demolition, Kennedy reiterated the city’s previous statement about seeking a remedy for the homeowner.
He added, “During this time, city co-responders and resources had been provided in an attempt to aid the owner.”
413 S. Cherry St. was “showing signs of collapsing”
Even before the demolition proceedings began last year, the city had documented previous efforts to address the state of the property.
During the September 2024 city council meeting, Arter, the chief building official for the city, said Olathe officials had been working to bring the property into compliance through a series of violations and citations since the 2012 fire.
Things ramped up in 2022 when the city issued code enforcement tickets due to inoperable vehicles on the property and “unsanitary debris outside,” as well as a detached garage “in danger of collapse,” per staff documents. The following year, Olathe filed more citations due to municipal code violations that were “creating a health and safety nuisance.”
The property owner dealt with some of the issues but did not appear in municipal court for the tickets or subsequent mandated court appearances. Eventually, the municipal court judge issued bench warrants.
In the end, Olathe had items removed from the property and the “unsafe detached garage” demolished. Last year, the property owner suggested that was unnecessary, saying the garage was “stable” before the city tore it down the previous year, and that he had been working on getting a new roof for it.
That same year, the homeowner rebuffed the city’s attempts to assess the structural stability of the home, leading the city to get an administrative search warrant. When city code officials did ultimately attempt again, they couldn’t complete the inspection because “the interior was so full of material, including trash and debris.”
From what they could see — “foundation cracking, electrical hazards, and unsanitary conditions” — they issued more municipal violations.
In spring 2024, city staff obtained a second search warrant, then contracted with a structural engineer to do an assessment and a mover “to temporarily remove items from the house as needed.”
The engineer found a decaying roof and several risks of collapse. In fact, they determined some parts of the house had already begun collapsing.
“The structure has several holes in the roof, has shifted off of its foundation, and is showing signs of collapsing. It presents an imminent danger to the neighborhood,” staff wrote in city documents from last fall.
During the September city council meeting, Arter said, “The home is extremely dangerous to be inside,” noting a concern that the property owner had said he’d been entering the residence.
What happens now?
As machinery began moving in earnest Friday morning, a few neighbors on Cherry Street stopped and watched as they were leaving their homes.
From across the street, police officers and code enforcement officials were seen collecting a few items that looked like personal belongings and setting them aside.
In the end, demolition was completed as scheduled, and the city said it expected to remove the debris the same day completely. The city also said final grading and foundation removal would be completed in the ensuing weeks.
The property owner, who remains in county jail, has a case in municipal court, with the next appearance scheduled for Feb. 6.
Mike Frizzell contributed to this report.
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