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Saturday, April 5, 2014
HQ Building to be Demolished
Building on Field St. to be dismantled to make room for courthouse in Torrington
TORRINGTON >> The large grey building on Field Street will be mechanically dismantled by the state as the courthouse complex project moves forward, officials said this week.
The 40,300-square foot building on 50 Field St. was once owned by the Torrington Company before being sold to the state for $2.3 million. The building is being cleared to make space for parking for the Litchfield County courthouse complex, while the lot currently used as a parking lot will house the courthouse.
Officials from the Department for Administrative Services said this week that the building’s demolition should be completed by June. By then, the building should be down and area leveled, John McKay of DAS said.
Jeffery Beckham, spokesman for DAS, said his building manager informed him that the building will be demolished soon.
“It will not be ‘imploded’,” Beckham said. “It will be a mechanical dismantling and may include a crane with a wrecking ball type device, with debris removed by trucks.”
Beckham said most of the building’s interior elements, like equipment, have been or are in the process of being removed for disposal.
The project’s momentum is growing after the state approved $600,000 in late February to fund the building’s demolition.
The building is currently entering its last four to five weeks of asbestos abatement, McKay said. He outlined a rough timeline of the building’s demolition.
“In early to mid May, they will be cutting the utilities to the building,” McKay said. “Then bringing in large equipment to take the building down incrementally—this should take about six weeks.”
In anticipation of the project, the city of Torrington is currently in the process of discontinuing a portion of Clark Street that runs between the large building and the area currently used as a parking lot.
A roll call vote by the City Council is needed to approve the discontinuance, but Mayoral Aid Tim Waldron said Friday that while the council meets on Monday, he expects the motion to be tabled.
“Now that the project is really starting to rev-up...[it’s] something we are excited about,” Waldron said. “It is going forward, going a little bit longer than anticipated.”
Waldron said Mayor Elinor Carbone has been speaking with state officials on a bi-weekly basis and there are details that still need to be ironed out before the council gives the okay.
The courthouse project received $1.1 million from the Office of Policy Management’s bond commission in June 2012, as the state has pledged $65 million to purchase and renovate the property. The costs include construction of the new courthouse.
The new courthouse will include a facility with six civil courtrooms, two criminal courtrooms, four hearing rooms, six resident judges’ chambers, an arraignment courtroom and one administrative judge’s chamber. Electronic security features with some areas housed behind bulletproof glass are included in the plans.
Currently, courthouses in the Litchfield Judicial District are located on West Street in Litchfield and in Bantam.
Beckham has previously said that he expects the courthouse to be completed near the end of 2015.
The 40,300-square foot building on 50 Field St. was once owned by the Torrington Company before being sold to the state for $2.3 million. The building is being cleared to make space for parking for the Litchfield County courthouse complex, while the lot currently used as a parking lot will house the courthouse.
Officials from the Department for Administrative Services said this week that the building’s demolition should be completed by June. By then, the building should be down and area leveled, John McKay of DAS said.
Jeffery Beckham, spokesman for DAS, said his building manager informed him that the building will be demolished soon.
“It will not be ‘imploded’,” Beckham said. “It will be a mechanical dismantling and may include a crane with a wrecking ball type device, with debris removed by trucks.”
Beckham said most of the building’s interior elements, like equipment, have been or are in the process of being removed for disposal.
The project’s momentum is growing after the state approved $600,000 in late February to fund the building’s demolition.
The building is currently entering its last four to five weeks of asbestos abatement, McKay said. He outlined a rough timeline of the building’s demolition.
“In early to mid May, they will be cutting the utilities to the building,” McKay said. “Then bringing in large equipment to take the building down incrementally—this should take about six weeks.”
In anticipation of the project, the city of Torrington is currently in the process of discontinuing a portion of Clark Street that runs between the large building and the area currently used as a parking lot.
A roll call vote by the City Council is needed to approve the discontinuance, but Mayoral Aid Tim Waldron said Friday that while the council meets on Monday, he expects the motion to be tabled.
“Now that the project is really starting to rev-up...[it’s] something we are excited about,” Waldron said. “It is going forward, going a little bit longer than anticipated.”
Waldron said Mayor Elinor Carbone has been speaking with state officials on a bi-weekly basis and there are details that still need to be ironed out before the council gives the okay.
The courthouse project received $1.1 million from the Office of Policy Management’s bond commission in June 2012, as the state has pledged $65 million to purchase and renovate the property. The costs include construction of the new courthouse.
The new courthouse will include a facility with six civil courtrooms, two criminal courtrooms, four hearing rooms, six resident judges’ chambers, an arraignment courtroom and one administrative judge’s chamber. Electronic security features with some areas housed behind bulletproof glass are included in the plans.
Currently, courthouses in the Litchfield Judicial District are located on West Street in Litchfield and in Bantam.
Beckham has previously said that he expects the courthouse to be completed near the end of 2015.
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