Did anyone get in beforehand???
Uxbridge demolition project begins
'More of a deconstruction' says company representative
Feb 24, 2010 - 10:55 AM
By Jeff Hayward
UXBRIDGE -- There won't be a 'big boom' like some may have anticipated.
Equipment was expected this week to roll into the demolition site at Toronto Street and Victoria Drive, where the old Co-op building will be removed and a new glass office building of First Leaside Securities will be erected.
But Joan Wilson of First Leaside, who is overseeing the project, said it won't be a spectacular show involving explosives to bring down the existing building. "It's more of a deconstruction than a demolition," she said, noting there are components of the Co-op including solid beams that can be salvaged. Ann Tersigni, also of First Leaside, added, "everything (will be) painstakingly disassembled ... it will be a gradual process over four weeks."
Ms. Tersigni also noted the construction is a green LEED project that looks not only at the construction of the new site, "but the entire process, (including) what we are doing with the existing property."
Meanwhile, the long-awaited project was delayed for a number of factors including wading through "several layers of approval" from groups such as GO Transit and Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, noted Ms. Wilson. First Leaside was also waiting for the Township to finalize its redevelopment incentives under a Community Improvement Plan, she added. "It's a complicated project because of the site," she added.
