Demolition of the Grundy Powerhouse officially began Wednesday morning in Bristol Borough
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Fred Baumgarten of the Grundy Commons Complex proposed a plan months ago to rid the borough of the historic building that has fallen into disrepair in recent years. Sitting vacant for nearly 50 years and barren inside, the old powerhouse has become a dangerous eyesore.
The plan for the site of the old powerhouse is to turn it into a parking lot for the mixed-use Grundy Commons Complex. The lot will ad add 60 parking spots, Baumgarten said.
The plan is to tear down the 180-foot-tall smokestack first. There will be no explosions to take down the building on smokestack, according to Baumgarten.
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Before the destruction began, Baumgarten spoke about progress in the borough. He thanked local private and public leaders including members of council, Bill Pezza of Bristol Borough: Raising the Bar and Bob White of the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority.
According to information made public, the work to demolish the building and replace it with a parking lot will cost Baumgarten $325,000. The old powerhouse was purchased from the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority by Baumgarten last year.
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By mid-afternoon, crews were already taking the top of the iconic smokestack down. By late spring, the entire building will be gone.
Since the powerhouse shuttered, their have been failed efforts to reuse the building, include a recent attempt to to turn it into residential housing units.
During recent council meetings, Baumgarten and other deconstruction advocates spoke about ridding the dangerous building from the borough. Opponents to the deconstruction said taking the building down would hurt efforts to keep Bristol historic.
