Demolition of Community Hospital to set resume

A part of Springfields history is about to have its last hurrah.

Demolition on the old west wing of the former Community Hospital will begin as soon as Monday afternoon, said Dave Lamb, director of communications for Community Mercy Health Partners.

Progress was somewhat delayed recently by poor weather, said Lamb. Earlier work took longer than initially planned because the level of remediation also known as asbestos removal was more than projected. However, given the age of the facility, thats not a big surprise. You simply dont know until you get in there.

Approximately two weeks afterward, demolition of the area landmarks most identifying structure, the tall tower, is slated to begin. The entire demolition, originally estimated to cost about $3 million, is expected to be completed within three to four weeks, weather permitting.

This phase of demolition may be of special interest to the community because its not only the final building to come down, it was also the original facility built on that site, said Lamb of the tall tower. It can be considered a bittersweet event.

We owe it to the neighbors not to let a big, outdated structure remain standing to become a long-term eyesore, he continued. On the other hand, that site holds a lot of great memories for people who were born or cared for there. A lot of our employees also have special memories of that hospital as well.

Community Hospital closed in November of 2011 on the same day the new downtown hospital, Springfield Regional Medical Center, opened. Demolition started in October of 2012. Demolition plans for Mercy Medical Center still arent finalized.

Dave Smith, director of engineering and plant operations at Community Mercy Health Partners, said an asbestos removal project of this size usually takes anywhere from three to four months.

But we went a couple of months more, said Smith. There were a lot of factors. More asbestos was observed when we started tearing out walls. I would say large percentage of the asbestos was behind walls.

Also, some of the older windows had some, he continued. So we had to change the process, and get them contained and sent away.

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Demolition of Community Hospital to set resume