Demolition begins at McKinley

By late Tuesday morning, the annex building at McKinley Elementary School was little more than heaps of rubble and a few support beams, marking the next step in a major renovation of the 100-plus-year-old school.

Heavy equipment began tearing away at one-story annex's walls, roof and ceiling on Monday and Billings School District 2 officials hope that the demolition phase of the $13-million renovation will be wrapped up by Friday.

"We're trying to keep as much of the historical value as we can," said Lew Anderson, SD2's bond project manager. "You're keeping a building that has significant historical value in the community."

In addition to demolishing the decades-old annex, crews are renovating the original school building's interior and exterior and will eventually build a new, three-story addition with six new classrooms and a new gymnasium in place of the old annex.

Those efforts are well under way, as crews began work at McKinley, 820 N. 31st St., in early June. They had to dedicate two weeks to asbestos abatement and have spent the last three weeks painstakingly removing the grout from between the school's exterior bricks.

"The bricks are fine but the grout needs to be replaced," Anderson said. "The restoration on the outside has been a big deal."

Similar work also to the tune of about $13 millionis being done at Broadwater Elementary, at 415 Broadwater Ave. Crews have been working over the same time frame to renovate the aging building but won't knock down that school's annex until the summer of 2015.

Once that annex is knocked down, a new one to match Broadwater will be built in its place.

At McKinley, some of the work will involve leveling out the original building's basement, which was never intended to be used as an educational space but was re-purposed as enrollment swelled.

"We have over 15 different elevations in the basement alone," Anderson said.

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Demolition begins at McKinley