The owner of the downtown building that partially collapsed in January did an about face Thursday and reported hiring a contractor to begin stabilizing and demolishing the property.

Preston Reuther, owner of the former Thomas Furniture building at 709-713 Clay Street, informed city officials he had hired William Greenwood of Antique Wood and Brick Company of Mississippi to clean up and secure the remains of the 140-year-old structure. Previously, he had vowed to opt out of the process.

&#8220We have a contract with them in place,” Reuther said Thursday.

The move came a week and a half before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen was expected to accept bids for the cleanup based on a plan put together by Texas engineer Patrick Sparks in April. The city took over the project in March, when the deadline it had set for Reuther and his wife, Mary, to submit plans for the property lapsed without any contact between the two sides.

City Attorney Nancy Thomas said it was &#8220premature” for the city to stop accepting bids and would require the same plan of work from Greenwood it asked from each of the Reuthers’ several previous contractors. The city’s bid opening is to be July 10, with costs to be paid from tax funds and the total enrolled as a lien against the tract’s deed.

&#8220If they do go forward and do what they’re supposed to do, we will back off awarding the contract,” Mayor Laurence Leyens said Thursday. &#8220We’ve said all along they can come in any time with a plan. We can do the work or they can do the work, and we prefer they do it.”

City approval hinges on meeting with Greenwood and OK’ing a plan of work for the project, said city Inspections Director Victor Gray-Lewis. He was trying to set up a meeting with Greenwood and Thomas for this morning, but had not been able to reach the contractor.

&#8220I have a letter from Preston Reuther that says they’ve hired a contractor and they were looking at the site today,” said Gray-Lewis, who added he did not know Greenwood and was not familiar with the Antique Wood and Brick Company. &#8220I know nothing about them. I’m trying to set up that meeting.”

Greenwood was on scene downtown Thursday but was not available this morning. There were no phone or Internet listings for Antique Wood and Brick Company of Mississippi.

After promising to rebuild immediately after the Jan. 25 collapse, Reuther had since said he was &#8220disenchanted” with the city’s response to the property, accused officials of being anti-small business, auctioned off what remained of the antiques intended for a shop in the building and put up for sale five of the 14 properties he and his wife had bought since moving from New Orleans five years ago.

In February, the Reuthers estimated based on a report by Vicksburg architect Skippy Tuminello that renovating and bringing still-standing sections at 707 and 709 Clay up to modern codes could cost $2.75 million, which they said was &#8220cost-prohibitive.” They asked that the complex be demolished instead, a request rejected by the city’s architectural review board and, later, Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

At the same meeting, the Reuthers also submitted stabilization plans approved by Gray-Lewis and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, but subsequently fired the contractor who drew them up, Freddie Parson, who said he was unable to obtain insurance required before he could start working.

Two other local contractors Reuther hired said they were also unable to get the necessary insurance to begin work before the expiration of the city’s March 11 deadline.

&#8220If they think those buildings are worth all this trouble, then I wish them luck,” he said as the city prepared to advertise for bids on the stabilization last month.

Thursday, Reuther said he had been waiting to find an experienced contractor who was available and could get the required $1 million insurance for the job.

&#8220My feeling is, is this a safe building? If it’s a safe building, let’s save it. But if it’s not safe, it would be my wish to demolish,” he said. &#8220But my wish and the city’s wish might conflict. We’re trying to come to some compromise.”

Most of the 700 block of Clay Street between Washington and Walnut streets has been closed since the collapse, which injured none despite the presence of 25 workers inside cleaning the building when it fell. The east end of the block reopened earlier this month to give vehicles access to the B’nai B’rith Club, Adolph Rose Antiques, the bottom level of the Trustmark Bank parking garage and the bank’s drive-through window.

The Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vicksburg Main Street and the Vicksburg-Warren Community Alliance – all housed in a single complex on the west end of the block – have remained out of the building at Clay and Washington since February.

Main Street moved furniture across the street Thursday into a vacant space at 1300 Washington St., where it will operate indefinitely, said assistant director Erin Hern. The downtown promotion group’s two employees had been at City Hall Annex on Walnut Street since February.