SAN ANTONIO – If you drove past Josephine Street near the Pearl Brewery Wednesday morning, you weren't seeing things.
The former Liberty Bar was moving, slowly, but surely and it's all part of the plan to bring the famous building back to life.
"The Boehler building which was built in 1890 has been here for well over 100 years. It was originally built as a bar and rooming house," said the Pearl Complex Architectural Preservation Consultant Jeffrey Fetzer.
Fetzer has been working on this project since Silver Ventures purchased the Pearl Complex in 2002. For months, Dodson House Movers have been straightening the building with a series of guy wires.
After decades of water damage and termite invasion, the building began to lean.
"We'll never get the lean completely out. The building was 11 inches out of plum, and there was some serious concern that if left to its own devices, it could eventually collapse," Fetzer said.
A little lean gives the building character, but at least they made it safe enough to move, and move it, they did. It took about 45 minutes to roll the building about 10 feet into the adjacent parking lot.
Now that the building has been moved over, movers will hold their work.
Next, construction crews will pour a base and foundation beneath it before Dodson crews permanently put the building back to its original spot.
Setting the new foundation should take a few months, and crews hope by spring, the Boehler Building will be set back in its place, and restoration of the historical marker will continue.