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Date: 9/7/2018
CHICOPEE – The next level of the former Uniroyal building will be coming down, leaving when the project is completed the administrative building and the plants power station as the only elements still standing.
Mayor Richard Kos made the announcement on Sept. 4 with Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Western Regional Director Mike Gorski, state Sen. Eric Lesser and City Councilor George Balakier.
Dunn said the demolition of the former tire plant and its eventual redevelopment is “an example of vision. You have to have long term vision.”
Dunn added the challenges poised by having a large industrial complex that has been closed is “a story I’ve heard in many communities … It’s sort of an extreme makeover.”
The 28 parcel of land had been in industrial use since the late 1800s according to the city’s website. Fisk Tire, later known as Uniroyal, made tires there from 1898 to 1980 when the company closed the plant and sold the property to another manufacturer, Facemate.
Lesser alluded to the cleanup problems the area has by saying, “It’s a complicated site. There’s a lot happening here.”
Kos explained the removal of the next tier of buildings would take at least eight months at a cost of $3 million. The mayor added that demolition was not his first choice for the next tier of buildings, as he would have liked to have seen them sealed for future reuse as the city had done for the administrative building.
The buildings have deteriorated to the point that could not be done, he added.
Lee Pouliot, the director of of Planning explained to Reminder Publishing the challenge of the demolition job poses. Because of the contaminants, such as asbestos, the building cannot be removed in a traditional manner. He said first all of the windows and glass would be taken out. The steel elements of the building will be recycled. Then the brick structures will be taken down where the bricks will be cleaned of any substance. Then the bricks will be crush onsite to be used as fill.
A Holyoke company was named the contractor through a bidding process.
Lesser said that while some people may be “cynical” about government, the Uniroyal project is an example of what “local, state and the federal government can do when in lockstep.”