While I know this isn't the biggest case, sometimes the building are torn down because they can't be fixed. I've watched more than one where I used to live in NC be unable to be fixed for any reasonable amount of cost. Some of them on the order of 100 years old costing 400k+ to fix (while keeping the house historically intact) because of rotting beams and other termite damage.

Now even given that, I really doubt that this was the case with him.