The California High-Speed Rail Authority confirmed it planned to demolish the vacant historic building that burned down Sunday in Fresno’s Chinatown neighborhood.
The rail authority on Tuesday declined to answer specific questions about what the building at the southeast corner of Tulare Street and China Alley was being used for, or what steps it had taken to secure the roughly 130-year-old structure against trespassers.
But in a Wednesday statement to The Bee, the agency said crews were recently on-site clearing out the building and beginning demolition operations. The rail authority is planning to build a station nearby, across the tracks in downtown Fresno, and is also working on underpasses connecting downtown and Chinatown…