SPRINGFIELD RESIDENTS, OFFICIALS PRAISE DEMOLITION OF BLIGHTED HAPCO BUILDING IN SOUTH END

Click Here: http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2005/09/28/0905fayerdown-html/ In preparation of the new Suzanne Lemberg Usdan University Center, portions of the old Fayerweather Gymnasium are being removed. Demolition is more than 80 percent completed as of Sept. 6. Associated Building Wreckers tear the building apart, beam by beam, brick by brick. Construction crew members demolish what is left of the Fayerweather pool, built in 1913. Alan Rubacha, Construction Services consultant, is the project manager. The renovated Fayerweather Gymnasium will become Fayerweather Hall. The facility will host a ballroom, catering kitchen, theater, dance studio and storage. The new university center will be built on the right side of Fayerweather Hall.

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/demolition_starts_on_springfie.html Crews have begun tearing down part of the building that once housed a Hooters restaurant at 60 Congress St. The rest of the four-story brick building will be renovated into office space, Zane Mirkin, one of the new owners, said Monday. Mirkin, owner of Associated Building Wreckers in Springfield, and Jerome J. Gagliarducci of Gagliarducci Construction, bought 60 Congress St. and the contents at a tax foreclosure auction in June for $605,000. In September, Mirkin and Gagliarducci had the building's contents, including kitchen equipment, tables and chairs, auctioned. The Hooters franchise and the Double Door Mexican Grill closed down suddenly in 2006. Before Hooters, the building was home to a Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant. Mirkin said there have been two additions to the building. One toward the front of the building is coming down as part of the renovations. The structure totals 54,477 square feet.

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/holyoke_to_raze_titling_buildi.html City officials are scheduled to begin demolishing Wednesday a five-story apartment block that once housed a pizza place and 11 apartments. “If you look at it, you can see it is tilting,” Purchasing Director David A. Martins said. “We don’t want to demolish it but no one wants to renovate it.” The building at 510-516 High St. is located at the corner of Cabot Street and was built in 1890. It has been vacant for at least a decade and was first placed in tax title in 1996. The city officially took possession of it in 2007, according to city documents. It was put up for sale three times but no buyers were interested, said Kathleen G. Anderson, director of economic development. Now the apartment block, which measures about 15,872 square feet, has deteriorated so badly that the wall that faces Cabot Street is tilting, which is creating a public safety hazard, Martins said. “Inside it is all collapsing in,” Martins said. “The inside is completely demolished. You can’t go above the first floor.” The entire property was last assessed at a value of $273,400 and the land alone is assessed at $91,000. A total of $113,071 is owed on back taxes and fees. The property was previously owned by Seventy-Seven – Seventy-Nine Inc. and earlier by Elizabeth Bedoya, records show. The building will be razed by Associated Building Wreckers of Springfield, who submitted a bid of $192,319, Martins said. During the demolition, which is expected to last about 10 days, Cabot Street will be closed from Nick Cosmos Way to High Street and High Street will be reduced to one lane from Worcester Place to Cabot Street, Martins said. The problem of vacant buildings has been a problem in the city for a number of years, Anderson said. The city has been working on an urban renewal plan that focuses on the neighborhoods of South Holyoke, Churchill, downtown and the Flats, where most of the vacant buildings are found, Anderson said. “We are looking building-by-building,” she said. “Our preference is to save as much a we can.” A team that includes a structural engineer, a Fire Department official, the city engineer and the building commissioner is examining each to see if they can be saved. The Fire Department also determines if they are safe to enter if they do catch fire. Even if they are unsafe and marked outside with an X, it does not mean those buildings will be demolished, Anderson said. After the survey is completed, the renewal team will develop a better plan for redevelopment of some of the vacant buildings, she said. “A lot of the buildings can be rehabed, but there is the cost of rehab and many people need subsidies to do that,” Anderson said. “We are reviewing what buildings can be mothballed and what are safety hazards.”

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/photos_demolition_of_st_anns_c.html Demolition of the former St Ann's Church started on Monday. The demolition contractor, Associated Building Wreckers Inc., will continue work on Tuesday morning. Work was held up temporarily because wood beams, not steel, were found inside the columns in front of the structure, so more precautions will be needed before the building comes down. Frank Colaccino, president of Colvest-West Springfield LLC, recently said the site will be used for retail development. Colaccino’s company, based in Windsor, Conn., bought the church and rectory at 560-576 Memorial Ave. on Oct. 18 for $650,000. Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield closed the church on Dec. 31, 2008, after a struggle with parishioners who wanted the diocese to keep it open. The diocese has removed the church’s stained glass windows, as well as all sacred materials, according to spokesman Mark Dupont. The diocese sold the property as part of pastoral planning because it no longer had a use for it, he said.

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/08/smith_college_begins_demolitio.html Smith College began demolishing two buildings it owns on Belmont Avenue Thursday after a year’s delay. The structures at 21 and 27 Belmont Ave. had triggered the city’s demolition delay ordinance because the Historical Commission determined that they had some historical or architectural significance. However, the ordinance cannot permanently prevent an owner from tearing a structure down. Building Commissioner Louis Hasbrouck said the school is knocking down the smaller building at 27 Belmont first, then the 21 Belmont Street house. Hasbrouck said he believes the college will loam and seed the sites but he does not know Smith’s long term plans for the properties. Smith College officials said both sites should be cleaned up by Aug. 31. The Historical Commission's delay provided time for someone to come forward with a plan to relocate the buildings, but no plan was offered.

The condemned Town Building-Police Station was torn down Friday, erasing another longtime downtown landmark that fell victim to the tornado two years ago. The demolition by Associated Building Wreckers of Springfield began on May 31. With each passing day, chunks of the 1925 building disappeared. Just a few days ago, it was a hollowed-out shell – interior walls could be seen with notices posted on them, giving passersby a glimpse of how the inside looked just before the tornado struck on June 1, 2011, and ripped part of the building’s roof off. Watching the demolition on Friday was Sharon A. Allen, who managed to get six bricks from the contractor the previous day. She plans to place them around a photo she has of the old building and will mail another to her son in Texas. “It’s such a huge piece of history. It’s kind of sad to see it go. The town’s gone through a lot of changes,” Allen said. “The new building will be nice. It’s progress. It will be nice to have a new Town Hall.” Before it housed town offices and the police department, the building was a school – a high school, then an elementary school. Allen said her husband graduated in 1962, and she worked in the cafeteria for five years when it was known as Main Street School. Her sons also attended Main Street School. Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers said debris removal will continue after the structure is completely razed, then the site will be stabilized. Neggers said geotechnical borings will be completed to discover what is beneath the building. Depending on what is found, the placement and construction of the new building could be affected, she said. Neggers said she felt sad to finally see the building come down. “As anxious as I am to see the town move forward in its recovery and rebuilding from the June 1, 2011 tornado, I can’t help but feel some melancholy to see the building demolished. It was an important anchor on Main Street for 90 years and the new building, however functional, will not replace the old one in its stature,” Neggers wrote in an email. “I worked at the building many, many hours for 19 years and I still miss working there and being able to look out my window onto Main Street. I know residents in town will miss it too as the building held memories for everyone either as a high school, elementary school or town offices. So it is a time that is both sad and hopeful for the future.” Neggers said the project hopefully will go out to bid this summer so construction bids can be awarded in September. Construction could begin in the fall, with an October 2014 completion date. Voters last year approved borrowing $3.4 million for a new 23,500-square-foot combination Town Building-Police Station; with a $6.9 million insurance settlement due to the tornado damage, the project totals $10.3 million. Neggers said there are approximately 250 bricks from the old building that will be made available to residents.

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/05/final_demolition_cleanup_proce.html Demolition crews have begun a $2.1 million project to finish razing and clearing the former Chestnut Junior High School, long vacant and destroyed in a fire last September. City officials and North End residents gathered at the school site on Chestnut Street on Thursday, saying the project, that includes removing the underground foundations and asbestos, will leave the property as a prime site for redevelopment. “I think the neighborhood for being very, very patient,” Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said. The city partially demolished the school after the fire, to protect public safety, and then made plans for the full cleanup while making sure the project could be afforded with city funds through borrowing. The building is city-owned. Associated Building Wreckers of Springfield was hired to finish the project, deemed the lowest bid meeting all specifications among seven bids received. The cleanup should be completed by late August, and the city will then solicit proposals for redevelopment, officials said. Debris was being removed Thursday and the project will also entail demolishing a rear portion of the school and a condemned house across the street. Kevin Kennedy, the city’s chief development officer, said potential redevelopment could be a residential project, medical buildings, or mixed uses, depending on the type of proposals received by the city for consideration. Jose Claudio, a resident and member of the New North Citizens Council, said the city and neighborhood will confer on the future development of the site. The redevelopment is an opportunity for new tax revnues, and will have a positive impact on the neighborhood, he said. Sarno said the site had been vacant for many years, and redevelopment efforts were unsuccessful. The fire was tragic, but “with tragedy, comes opportunity,” Sarno said.

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/former_umass_frat_razed_to_mak.html Associated Building Wreckers were doing what its name implied Wednesday morning, wrecking the former Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity on Olympia Drive clearing the land for student housing. Archipelago Investments LLC, of Amherst purchased the property at 57 Olympia Drive for $1.2 million last year. Developers Kyle Wilson and David Williams are planning to build at 75-unit complex to house 236 students. Town officials issued a building permit earlier this month along with the demolition permit. Town officials expect developers to break ground this fall. Developers could not be reached for comment.

Click Here: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/springfield_officials_announce_4.html Demolition began Monday at a vacant, fire-damaged house on Adams Street in the South End as part of a continuing effort by the city to combat blight in various neighborhoods. Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Housing and Code Enforcement officials gathered outside the house at 17 Adams St. to announce and view the start of that demolition there and to announce plans to demolish a house at 19 Pine Street Court, in Six Corners. “If a home or a building cannot be properly put back on the tax rolls for rehab or reconstruction, and they continue to be a blight to the neighborhood and public safety issue, we are going to knock them down,” Sarno said. Both are tax-foreclosed properties and owned by the city, with demolition afforded through federal funds under the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery fund. Asbestos abatement and demolition is costing $33,400 at 17 Adams St., and $26,900 at 19 Pine Street Court. Associated Building Wreckers of Springfield was hired for the demolition projects. David Cotter, the city’s deputy director of code enforcement, said the crackdown on blighted properties will continue “neighborhood by neighborhood, street by street, house by house.” Steven Desilets, code enforcement commissioner, said the crackdown is a team effort involving various departments including code enforcement, housing, and the police. Tina Quagliato, the city’s director of disaster recovery, said the Adams Street house is adjacent to two other city-owned properties, and is across from the former HAPCO building at Main and Adams Street, also slated for demolition. The house at 17 Adams St., was damaged in multiple fires, and had problems of trespassing and squatters, Quagliato said. Plans for the various South End sites are not yet finalized. Sarno said the latest demolition on Adams Street also creates a larger clear view of Outing Park in the Hollywood section of the South End. Geraldine McCafferty, the city’s director of housing, said that blight reduction efforts in the South End tie in with a large public safety initiative in that area, assisted by the Department of Justice grant.