Demolition of old Church & Morse building in Meriden stalled

Published: June 19, 2014 | Last Modified: June 19, 2014 10:01AM

By Dan Brechlin Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN The demolition of the former Church and Morse building and the adjacent structures has been at a standstill for more than a month and it could be some time before the buildings begin coming down.

The buildings at 33 and 51-53 S. Colony St. are being razed to simplify the reconstruction of a nearby railroad bridge. For more than a century, the bridge has contributed to downtown flooding, causing Harbor Brook to back up during major rainstorms.

The city held a ceremony in October 2013 to mark the start of demolition but, since then, different elements of the project including environmental cleanup, the removal of contents from the buildings, and the need for approvals from Amtrak and utility companies have taken longer than expected. City officials said they were unaware of whatever issue was holding up the project during the last several weeks. Public Works Director Robert Bass said an issue came up with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, but the city was not informed of the details as of early this week. Wednesday, however, city officials finally got some communication.

We are looking at it and digesting it to figure out what theyre looking for, Bass said. We want to move it off of our plate as quickly as we can.

Bass said the engineering department will have to investigate the questions and concerns, but for now we dont know how to answer them so we will have to research and come up with answers.

A DEEP spokesman said Tuesday afternoon he could not find anyone at the department that is aware of any issue. The spokesman, Dwayne Gardner, was not available for comment Wednesday. Another DEEP spokesman did not return a request for comment, Wednesday.

City Purchasing Officer Wilma Petro said she believed some of the questions had to do with the fill being used on the site once the demolition was completed. She said that it doesnt seem like anything major, and hoped demolition could proceed soon. Petro added that the demolition was only supposed to take a few weeks initially. Bass noted that the concerns have nothing to do with Harbor Brook, which flows beneath the Church and Morse building.

Massachusetts-based contractor NASDI is overseeing the project. Clearing out the buildings began late last year and contamination abatement occurred throughout the winter months. After a brief layoff, panels from the exterior of the former Church and Morse building were stripped, revealing old windows around the building. According to Bass, the panels contained very minimal amounts of contaminated material. Since their removal in April, however, there has been little action at the site.

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Demolition of old Church & Morse building in Meriden stalled