Demolition at the old Wheland Foundry. Click to enlarge.
photo by John Wilson
Demolition crews are well on their way to having the huge Wheland Foundry site cleared for redevelopment by the goal of September, officials said.
Mike Mallen, a partner in new Wheland owner Perimeter Properties, said the Middle Street plant has been leveled, and most of the buildings at the main Broad Street plant are now down.
He said when the property is cleared of piles of scrap metal, the new owners will meet with city officials and developers to determine the best use for the 40 acres south of town.
Mr. Mallen said, "My partners and I have been in the scrap metal business all our lives and this is the most bittersweet project we have ever been involved in.
"Wheland Foundry was a very special part of Chattanooga's industrial life for well over a century, and it is not without some sadness that we take it down."
He said officials from the Design Center and the Association of Visual Artists were allowed to inspect the site and to retrieve industrial antique items.
Mr. Mallen also said numerous photographs have been made during the demolition process.
He said there will be some type of memorial placed at the site as a reminder of the foundry's long history.
The foundry, dating back to the early 1870s, filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and closed in the spring of 2002.
Mr. Mallen said crews from D.H. Griffin and Sons have been carrying out the massive demolition job. D.H. Griffin also recently won the contract to take down the Roper plant in North Chattanooga.
He said one crew is knocking down the buildings, then another crew is cutting the metal into 2'x3' sections.
Mr. Mallen said the scrap metal is then hauled off to scrap purchasers here, in Alabama and elsewhere.
He said barges were mainly used at first, and now most of the scrap is going out via rail and truck.
He said when President George Bush lifted the steel tariffs that the price for scrap metal shot up. But he said it has come back down.
Mr. Mallen said it remains to be seen whether the amount received for the scrap metal will cover the demolition costs.
Two local firms, Marion Environmental and Consolidated Technologies, are involved in environmental aspects of the demolition.
Partners in Perimeter Properties also include Gary Chazen, Bob Chazen, Jim Steffner and Dale Hixson.
They formed Bromid LLC as a subsidiary for the project. The name comes from the Broad and Middle Street plants.
D.H. Griffin also handled the demolition of the Twin Towers in New York City and of Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta.
The Middle Street plant is 12 acres and Broad Street is 28 acres.
The Perimeter group got the property out of bankruptcy for $1, but had to commit to handling any environmental problems.