Hospital demolition stays on schedule

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October 30, 2015 - 12:00 AM

Jeremy Smith likes looking for weak points.
With a few well-placed pokes and prods, Smith can turn a reinforced concrete structure into a pile of rubble — sometimes in a matter of minutes.
It speaks to the engineering and workmanship used to build the old Allen County Hospital in the early 1950s, Smith noted.
“There are parts of that building that are like trying to tear down a bank vault,” Smith said this week, as demolition of the old hospital progressed.
Smith works for Remco Demolition in Kansas City, a company that specializes in removing structures large and small.
“We’ve done silos, bank vaults, hospitals,” Smith said. “This building has been hard, but we’ve fought harder ones.”
The hospital’s different wings have required varying degrees of effort to remove, Smith noted.
“The east side is going to be the toughest,” he said. “I’m probably going to bring in a wrecking ball, just to get it started. With wide columns, I’ll be able to do the rest from here.”
“From here” is the cab of his Hitachi ZX35LC excavator, a brand new machine never used before it rolled onto the ACH demo site. The machine was almost too new, Smith joked. The start of the project was delayed for more than a week because he had to await a part.
“The part wasn’t available yet, so we had to go through the dealer,” Smith said. “But it’s working great now.”
The hospital, one of Iola’s landmarks for half a century, is being demolished to make way for a G&W Foods grocery  store, with plans in the works for a number of nearby apartment complexes and townhouses.
Even with the early delays, Smith is optimistic he’ll meet the 70-day deadline to get the hospital torn down.
As of Friday, he was 25 days into Remco’s 70-day contract.
Smith is at the site an average of 50 hours a week — 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday. As of Friday, the west half of the hospital has been removed to the basement.
Smith notes the tougher, east portion will take a bit more planning, particularly where the old hospital connects to the Medical Arts Building — which is still being used.
“I know the people over there may be a little nervous,” Smiths aid. “They’ll come out and watch, too.”
Smith plans to do some of the heavy demo after hours as he gets closer to the Medical Arts Building, first to minimize disruptions, and secondly, for safety sake.
“Every time something falls, it sends a shock, and you’ll hear it,” he said. “And you never know what’s going to happen. With gravity, everything falls down. But who’s to say it won’t fall over and down. Or you may have a metal I-beam you weren’t expecting, or something that rolls off the roof. We want to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
The key is patience, and finding the right angle to attack, Smith continued.
“If you come in at the building from the wrong angle, you’re just going to fight it,” he said. “You want to find the soft spot, then take it from there.”
As the building is reduced to a pile of rubble, Smith takes care to separate the materials. Metal goes in one pile, concrete another.
“It’s either separate it now, when you can, or later, when it’s much tougher,” he said.
Much of the debris will taken to the Allen County Landfill. The metal will be taken to Ray’s Metal Depot in LaHarpe, for recycling.

The demolition has drawn plenty of onlookers. Iolans stop by on a daily basis to watch.
“I’ve had people tell me they think this would be an easy job, because all I’m doing is sitting in this cab all week,” he said. “It’s actually work. Try sitting up here at the controls and deciding what to do would make most people freeze. It’s enjoyable, but it is work.”
Most spectators gather at the hospital’s west parking lot. More often than not, they’re sporting cameras to snap a picture or two, or to record the proceedings.
“They don’t bother me,” he said. “In fact, I’ve had a few people videotape for me. I don’t get to sit back and watch me work, so I get to see it from another angle.”

THE GOAL is to have the demolition complete before the end of the year so grocery store construction can begin in the spring.
In addition, Iola Industries has approached Allen County, which owns the property, about an option to build apartments.

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