Crews complete Church & Morse building demolition in Meriden

Published: October 31, 2014 | Last Modified: October 31, 2014 08:03PM

By Molly Callahan Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN Though demolition is largely complete at the Church & Morse site on South Colony Street, the former hardware stores foundations are set to remain in place for the foreseeable future, city officials said Friday.

Associate City Engineer Brian Ennis said a small amount of asbestos was uncovered during the demolition, the removal of which is delaying the completion of work at 33 and 51-53 S. Colony St.

No one knew it was there, Ennis said, but that will be abated early next week, and then it appears all they (the Massachusetts-based contractor NASDI Corp.) needs to do is clean up the site. The asbestos is fully contained in the area and creates no hazards for passersby, he added.

Public Works Director Robert Bass said the footprints of the buildings will remain where they are until the city hires a contractor to build a channel redirecting the formerly underground Harbor Brook.

Removing the buildings is part of the larger downtown flood control plan, which includes unearthing and redirecting the brook. The city also razed the buildings to offer better access to the railroad bridge behind them. When work is done, the site will be green space in the city, Bass said.

A new contractor would be hired to remove the foundations and build up the next phase of the work, which involves building a culvert adjacent to the railroad bridge to the north of the buildings, Ennis said. Currently, the bridge causes Harbor Brook to back up during major rainstorms and pushes water downtown, which has resulted in major flooding.

You can see how low the (steel) beam is on the Amtrak bridge; you can see how thats a choke point for the brook, City Manager Lawrence J. Kendzior said Friday.

We wanted to get the buildings out of the way, but the rest of the project is all dependent on the funding, Ennis said. This initial phase was $565,000, according to a permit issued for a project that matched the bid submitted by NASDI. Designs for the next phase should be drawn up and sent out to bid this winter, with construction beginning in the spring, Ennis said.

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Crews complete Church & Morse building demolition in Meriden