THE CAROLINA STATES SUPPLEMENT
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Vol. XXII • No. 18
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
Your Carolina States Connection • Richard McKeon, Charlotte, NC 1-800-288-4234
Action Begins on Demolition of Immense S.C. Plant By Peter Hildebrandt
itoring its after effects. “The facility is now clearly a hazard to the health and safety of the community,” said Turner. Approximately 80 percent of the original building site will be coming down, according to Turner. Rock Hill did a textile corridor master plan in 2003, which defined the redevelopment plan for the area. The idea is to have a pedestrian-oriented site linking the downtown to Winthrop University so that it becomes an urban mixed use area with residential, commercial and employment opportunities as well. Because of the three fires in the plant there is now structural material which has fallen on top of what is considered asbestos debris. Will Simmons of Action Demolition & Recycling LLC was given the work of completing the asbestos abatement and demolition of the site. The city will pay five million dollars over a period of years for this work. Rock Hill in turn will have the option to acquire the property. “Our asbestos crew is well trained and qualified as well as our operators who have asbestos awareness training per South Carolina law. All personnel in the ‘hot’work area have full poly suits and respirators,” said Storey. Several different containment areas are being set up. The debris is being wetted and removed as the first stage in this demolition project. All of the permits for work on the entire site are now in place.
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Rock Hill, S.C.’s old textile coloring plant, known locally as the “Bleachery” was built in 1929 and very soon came to provide relief from the economic and jobless stresses caused by the Great Depression of the last century. For many of the years of its operation, the plant was the largest employer in York County, employing some 4,000 workers. It also was the largest cloth, printing and finishing plant in the world for a period of time during its operations. The plant closed in 1998. After that there was only some limited activity at the plant. The huge site is located between the Winthrop University campus and downtown Rock Hill and is part of a major re-development area known as the “Textile Corridor.” Twenty-three acres in size (or approximately one and a half to two million square feet of space) means this is a substantial chunk of urban real estate. The city of Rock Hill has done much planning in this area, creating financing tools for building or improving public infrastructure. “We clearly have a long-term interest in the future development of the area,” explained Stephen Turner, director of Rock Hill Economic Development. Fires, Vacancy and Asbestos The property has now been sitting vacant for more than a decade in an increasingly deteriorating condition. There have been three fires on the property. Two of them were during the summer of 2009 and cost the city of Rock Hill $60,000 and took 12 million gallons of water to extinguish, according to Rock Hill Fire Department Capt. Rusty Myers. Both incidents took more than 75 firefighters at the start and officials were there for 12 days fighting the blaze and mon-
As Action Demolition & Recycling proceeds through the different phases of the demolition, it will crush all the concrete — such as slabs and all on-site concrete — with its Terex Pegson concrete crusher.
The Right Equipment for the Task Currently on-site at the Bleachery, Action Demolition & Recycling has a half dozen Cat excavators, one of which has a LaBounty muncher multiprocessor. This is a hydraulic attachment used for munching down buildings and separating concrete from rebar. The attachment is on a 330 Caterpillar. see DEMOLITION page 6