Federal Complex demo ahead of schedule
Demolition and cleanup of contamination at the former Bannister Federal Complex is about 11 months ahead of schedule, according to Kevin Breslin, a principal owner of Bannister Transformation & Development (BT&D), the private firm that now owns the site and plans to redevelop it.
Breslin said about a third of the site may be ready for redevelopment as early as August, more than a year earlier than originally forecast.
He said about two-thirds of the vertical portions of buildings on the site have been fully demolished, which includes 47 of the 50 structures. He added that about a fourth of the building slabs have been demolished and recycled, and the pace of that work is accelerating.
Breslin said all building areas contaminated by beryllium have been cleaned and thoroughly tested to confirm they were beryllium-free prior to demolition, and that all contaminants have been property disposed of in licensed landfills.
He said all demolition and cleanup activities, including the reports required by environmental regulations, are projected to be completed by early 2022.
BT&D plans to redevelop the great bulk of the site as an industrial park for light manufacturing and warehousing/shipping, but some retail uses on the east side of Troost outside the flood wall are possible.
My dad once told me a long time ago back in the late ’60s, when he worked then at Bendix, the following: “There’s enough material in this entire complex going back to the Blue River all the way across to Troost to build 8000 three-bedroom homes with 2 baths each.” “Of course”, he said, “they would have to be made out of brick!”
It’s too bad that the winning contractor decided to only recycle concrete out of there instead of just disassembling the entire complex, (Disassembly is what most environmentally-forward-looking countries do for THEIR own kids future. Disassembly creates lots of local jobs and it is labor intensive but materials can usually be stored right nearby and the simple storage areas could be built for the materials OUT of the materials.) Instead, this company contractor is going to build brand new storage units for people to rent has a brand new I’m going business!
Rather insane to me … And a happy future for our kids! Demolish or deconstruct?
I guess now the airlines are going to demolish Terminal A at MCI…whoops, KCI!