Several small mounds of debris are all that's left of the old Belk building after three weeks of demolition work.

City Administrator Steve Willis said most of the debris should be cleared this week, with restoration work to start on the $400,000 project soon after.

D.H. Griffin project superintendent Bill Esterline said his crews should be done on Wednesday. Esterline also worked on the demolition of the old Springs' Lancaster Plant a few years ago.

The restoration work will have to address the natural spring on site, which filled the vacant building's basement for years and rotted away the building's structure in the absence of a sump pump. Esterline said a new sump pump will likely be needed, and dirt and gravel can fill in other open areas.

"They'll (the city) need to address that," Esterline said. "We haven't been able to find any company around here that can do that work."

Willis said workers could install a french drain or a sump pump to address the spring. Crews will just have to examine the area and make an intelligent determination.

"We just won't know until we know what's down there," Willis said.

Esterline said he was approached by a man during the demolition who was interested in searching the dangerous area to find the front sign of Dr. J. Marion Sim's office, which the famous doctor supposedly threw into the spring out of frustration. Esterline didn't condone the idea.

Esterline said the job went as planned, even when D.H. Griffin crews surprisingly found a nearly impregnable steel section of the second floor to tear apart.

"Three-fourths of the second floor was steel, but we just zapped through that," he said. "We took seven days doing that, and we even came in before our schedule."
Willis commended City Building Official Rick Bowers and Fire Chief Chris Nunnery for their planning in the days leading up to the demolition, and work to secure the building when parts of it threatened to fall.

"They did a good job," he said.

Smooth going for adjacent buildings

Janice Vaughn, supervisor of the Alcohol and Drug Action Team Center on Main Street, which stands adjacent to the site on its north end, said her work environment has been a little noisy in recent weeks. But she said the city has done well to accommodate and inform the center.

The center wasn't able to use its back parking or entrance due to the demolition work in and around the Catawba Street side of the building.

"But the city was gracious enough to give us (employees) cards so we could park along Main Street past the two hour limit," Vaughn said.

Even the North South Wholesale Store, which shared a common wall with the old building to its south, stayed open for business, Willis said.

Engineers will soon have to examine the structural soundness of that wall, and see what work needs to be done to the facade of the North South building, which has been altered after the demolition.

It shared a facade with the old building, and the city is going to help finance whatever work is appropriate.

In January, Willis said city council will likely start serious discussions on what will occupy the vacant lot. He noted again the idea of See Lancaster and the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce building offices on the site, with perhaps the Community Playhouse making its home there as well.

There are many ideas, but no prevailing one, he said.

Vaughn said she and her co-workers are ready to see what will become of the lot.

"We're kind of anxious to see what will happen right there," she said, with a smile.