Demolition underway at former Grand Rapids Press building

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Demolition crews are starting work at the former Grand Rapids Press headquarters with the goal of clearing the site by the end of May, a spokeswoman for Michigan State University said Tuesday, March 3.

The building, which was sold to MSU in 2013, will be demolished for $3 million to make room for an $85.1 million Grand Rapids Biomedical Research Building at the northeast corner of Michigan Street and Monroe Avenue NW.

There are few signs of demolition outside of the chain link fence that was erected around the 49-year-old building, but work crews are inside to remove asbestos and other materials, said Kat Cooper, director of communications for MSU Auxiliary Enterprises.

Exterior demolition will begin by the end of March, Cooper said. Unlike some large demolitions, there will be no implosions or explosions. Instead, a crane will be used to dismantle the building, she said.

The interior demolition phase includes removing 20,000-square-feet of asbestos floor tiles, 2,500 feet of pipe insulation, Cooper said. Workers also have to remove 5,900 fluorescent light bulbs, she said.

The exterior demolition will begin when the workers remove the copper cladding on the upper floors of the building, Cooper said. That material will be retained for possible re-use on the interior of the building or recycled, she said.

"We're trying to be as sustainable as we can be," Cooper said. The steel, concrete and cement blocks will be recycled for re-use, she said. Only soft materials such as carpeting and ceiling tiles will not be re-used, she said.

The 173,840-square-foot former Press headquarters opened in 1966 amid urban renewal construction on the north side of downtown throughout the 1960s and '70s. In 2012, the owners of The Press sold the building and five parking lots to MSU for $12 million.

MSU plans to house 44 project investigator teams in the new research facility, which is being built for the school's College of Human Medicine with a target completion date of late 2017. The university currently houses 18 research teams in the Van Andel Institute.

Cooper said no date has been set for a ground breaking on the new facility.

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Demolition underway at former Grand Rapids Press building