Flood Recovery, Government
Demolition of Sinclair meatpacking plant could come in 2010
Posted on Nov 05, 2009 by Admin.
The Sinclair Site in Downtown Cedar Rapids is garnering attention again from the fire department, and city staff.
Back at the end of July, a massive fire damaged the former Farmstead Foods property and kept firefighters busy for days.
Today, during a special tour of the site, our crew found material still smoldering, which caused the fire department to return and do more work.
The site dates back to 1872, some of the buildings date back to 1919. But the death of the old meat packing plant could finally come in 2010.
“It’s a very technical demolition and it’ll take time and be very expensive and we need funding in place before we start that. The city can’t afford the bill to demo this property,” said Cedar Rapids Flood Director Greg Eyerly.
And it’s a big bill. One option takes a year and costs about $20 million. The other could cost $100 million and take three years.
Both options are eligible for FEMA funding, but FEMA has yet to announce it’s decision. Eyerly said he expects to hear from FEMA by this Spring.
“The more complicated way, is to use the old ball and chain way, and that’s to knock down, but you have to treat every piece, every brick as hazardous,” said Eyerly.
The easy way is to literally lift the buildings so you can walk through and pull out asbestos and hazardous material from underneath and throughout the floors.
But, time, water and a fire have a big say in which method they use.
The fire took away any shortcuts for one major building. The ceilings are falling and there’s no way people can walk though and pull out the hazardous material. Eyerly said that building will most likely have to be demolished the expensive and slow way.
However, Eyerly said engineers will know which option is best by as soon as December. But a final decision won’t be made until FEMA makes it ruling, said Eyerly.
Historians have said they want to keep the iconic smokestack, but that remains in doubt.
Our lens showed bricks crushed, cracked and missing, and it appears the smokestack is slightly leaning to one side.
Also, Eyerly said he expects to hear any day on a dollar amount the city will get from insurance for the fire that happened this year.
Justin Foss, KCRG-TV
gardbr
06. Nov, 2009
Great photos, long history, forgotten times.
MCb82
06. Nov, 2009
why oh why did the city ever buy this, another brilliant decision. they're waiting for FEMA to give them money to demolish it, don't wait by the phone.
Marionite
06. Nov, 2009
Actually I think it was a really intelligent decision since the "free market" process was never going to do anything with this property since it was (and still is) basically worthless for any purpose, and no amount of private investment was going to turn that property into a profitable development. Just like the old Iowa Steel building. How long did that sit empty?? Most of my lifetime. I remember as a young child when it was operating. The city finally stepped in and tore that down. Another good decision.
23streets
06. Nov, 2009
Who profited from the sale or purchace of the property. It is at the expence of the citizens of CR. Why did we buy it and how much did we pay? I have a feeling a group insiders bought low and sold high. Now the price is a lot higher.
Marionite
06. Nov, 2009
Look back in the Gazette archives about 3 years or so when the city bought the building. A group of three investors had originally bought this for like $750k or so, then they received some kind of subsidy, either tax break or government assistance to "clean up" the site or something that was almost equal to what they paid for it. So essentially they got it for next to nothing, then sold it to the city for $3M after holding their investment about 10-12 years. Its all there in print somewhere. A great investment, wish I had thought of it.
jamesman
06. Nov, 2009
The sad part is they will leave nothing of the building, this site and place is what made Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids. They should save something of it. How about a history place or something like that and use the bricks from the plant for the new building on a new site
cubbygirl
06. Nov, 2009
Yes…if possible they can try to recycle some of the bricks, etc. Good idea!
mustang84
06. Nov, 2009
I personally think they should leave the stack and build a small park around it. I also like the idea of building a small commemorative center using some of the bricks.
jamesman
06. Nov, 2009
There is one other person I have heard say the same things, and I like the idea, think it was Tim Pugh when he knocked on my door
96Bravo
06. Nov, 2009
"Also Greg Eyerly says he expects any day to hear on a dollar amount the city will get from insurance for the fire" Really, I would not hold my breath. I think they have already heard, and I thing the dollar amount is………. zero. But of course we could deduct the amount we should have collected on certain insurance policies from the purchase price of a certian downtown insurance companies building that is eyed as a new building site for city facilities.
Ann_Onamouse
06. Nov, 2009
Shoot, I'll personally help by loading a truck full of bricks myself!
NomerBull
06. Nov, 2009
They're considered hazardous because they are contaminated with asbestos.
Ann_Onamouse
06. Nov, 2009
So much for that then…too bad they cant be recycled somehow.
crindy
07. Nov, 2009
"Contaminated" Kinda like about 90% of the houses we gutted, asbestos covering the heating ductwork, yet the majority of the volunteers had no idea what it was till we pointed it out to them. So much for "the safety of our citizens" being top priority.
hawkize
06. Nov, 2009
What's up with calling it the "Sinclair Meat Packing Plant?"
I know that the Sinclair's originated a meat packing plant on the site but it was known as "Wilson's" to virtually everyone alive today. At least to everyone who is alive today and was when the plant was operating.
It was Wilson Foods when the greedy corporationthat operated the plant then filed for bankruptcy in 1983 and cheated the workers there out of the wages and benefits generations of employees had worked to earn. Is somebody trying to whitewash over that by recalling a name not associated with that dark part of the past?
thumbsupracing
06. Nov, 2009
So technically if this is a potential site for the City Hall campus, it just went from $50 mil to $150 mil with the cost of demolition.
guardian44
07. Nov, 2009
Don't worry folks……there are approximately six weeks left of this city council to pass whatever
they can. I think the phone lines are humming from CR to every consultants office in a 3000 mile radius for a presentation, open house, public input (HA! HA!)and staff presentations for this prime
property to be the new Civic Campus. I know the city is pushing those river taxi's over
in Ellis Park so now they can transport public employees and citizens around "Sinclair Civic Campus" canals . The geese are just waiting to leave their deposit on this idea.
guardian44
07. Nov, 2009
What happened to guardian44 posting? Little too close to a nerve?
NiRiON
10. Nov, 2009
I applaud hawkize and stringly agree with thumbsupracing.
With people thinking to save the bricks and make a park (like a memorial I'm guessing…), I ask "why ? "
If you want to remember the plant – remember the "Wilson's employees" who lost benefits and all that. Why would you build around, save pieces, or commerate it when it hurt so many people and cold-heartedly took away any gains for the future of those employees ?
By the way, Cedar Rapids is Cedar Rapids and will always be Cedar Rapids by every Cedar Rapidians' memory of Cedar rapids. This is the new age, and we move on because we are Americans. I love cedar Rapids for all the old buildings and the memories that fill my sometimes emptiness by not seeing the same old Cedar rapids that I grew up in.
I have to move on though, and leave the big decisions to the city – they try their best, and I have always admired their support and " pulling through " for the rest of us ! That is what makes Cedar rapids jamesman…
guardian44
17. Nov, 2009
It is the new age…..but we must retain some of the past to move forward. I knew many who worked
at Wilson Foods and they worked very hard. They should be remembered not the destroyed buildings. Yet, I do believe in saving old buildings. I long to see the old Railroad Depot next to Greensquare. We need to look at our European friends and how they built new but thank goodness they kept the old . What would Rome, London, Paris, Barcelona and countless other cities be without the cherished beauty of their old buildings. We in USA are a throw-away society…..we need to preserve our historical buildings and churches. It is our heritage.