Coultrap's days numbered as demolition set to begin

GENEVA The demolition of the former Coultrap Elementary School, 1113 Peyton St., Geneva, is scheduled to begin Monday. Officials said the first days of work will focus on getting the building ready to be taken down.

Chris Lumpp, engineer at Alpine Demolition Services in Batavia, said the first couple of weeks of demolition work will involve shutting off all utilities to the building, taking out light bulbs for recycling and other work inside the building.

Scott Ney, director of facility operations for Geneva School District 304, said the actual physical demolition will not involve a wrecking ball or explosions, but rather a systematic removal.

A giant claw machine will take chunks of the building away, Ney said. There will be no vibration. Lumpp said the giant claws are attachments to excavators ... that are chomping and pulling on the concrete and steel.

As the building is taken down in chunks and bites, materials will be separated out and taken away, Lumpp said, with a finish date scheduled for Aug. 2.

Ney said the demolition is to be completed before the start of the 2013-14 school year.

Coultrap was built in 1923. Despite an outcry from the public to preserve Coultrap, the District 304 school board approved razing the school in January because it would have cost more to repair than to tear down.

The former school was Genevas first high school.

It then became the junior high and then was renovated to be an elementary school. Coultrap was closed as an attendance center in 2009 because its students went to the new Williamsburg Elementary School.

Until recently, school board meetings were held in Coultraps cafetorium.

Continued here:
Coultrap's days numbered as demolition set to begin