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Demolition begins on old Belk building
By Johnathan C. Ryan - Reporter The Lancaster News October 15, 2006
Demolition started on the old
Belk Building on Thursday, and should be done in about a month, city
officials say.
City Administrator Steve Willis said construction workers were able to
isolate and remove asbestos from the two areas in the building
containing it. The work was done in the days leading up to the start of
demolition, and according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental
Control protocol.
"All that's going to be in the air now
is just regular demolition debris," Willis said. |
Photo by Aaron Morrison
Staff photographer |
The work will cost about
$400,000.
City Associates owns the building, but has agreed to deed the property
to the city once the building is demolished. The building was condemned
last year. City officials have discussed how it might use the site, but
nothing definite has been decided.
"It will be interesting to see how that part of it
develops," said local historian Lindsay Pettus, who doesn't have
an opinion on what should occupy the downtown lot.
Pettus said the site likely contains a richer history than the old
Belk store. He said it was likely the site of Dr. J. Marion Sims'
office. Sims is considered the founder of modern gynecology.
"I feel pretty confident that this was in the immediate area
of where J. Marion Sims had his office," he said.
The doctor at one point became disenchanted with his future
prospects in Lancaster that he threw his office sign in the
city's public well.
It's possible the old public well may lie beneath the old
building, and that underground well caused extensive water
damage in the building.
A sump pump was once used to remove water from the basement,
but the practice was discontinued years ago. Parts of the
roof, interior flooring and walls of the building were caving
in.
A Columbia engineering firm recommended in August that the
building be demolished. An engineer who visited the
building said it was only a matter of time before the
building collapsed.
A string of small businesses were located on the site
before Belk moved its Lancaster store there shortly after
World War II. The Belk store was an economic stimulus
that drew shoppers from across the region, Pettus said.
Belk remained there until it moved to Lancaster Square
in the 1970s. B.C. Moore and Sons then moved into the
building and occupied it until it also relocated to
Lancaster Square in the 1990s.
The building has been vacant since B.C. Moore's moved
out.
Contact
Johnathan Ryan at 416-8416 or jryan@thelancasternews.com
Article © The Lancaster News,
reprinted with permission.
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