A Charlotte, N.C., company has a contract to demolish the vacant Burlington Industries plant and distribution center in Hurt, the company announced last week.
JW Demolition has a deal with the Burlington property’s owner, International Textile Group Inc. in Greensboro, N.C., to take the buildings down. The two contracted about a month ago.
Tony Pizzo, one of the owners of JW Demolition, planned to start this week preparing the buildings for demolition. He said the total demolition down to the slab will take seven or eight months. The buildings total 700,000 square feet.
Work will start with the distribution center.
The company announcement said the water filtration plant will remain for future water processing. Pizzo said a 100,000-square-foot part of the Main Street building on one end might also be left, although that decision hasn’t been made.
The Burlington plant in Hurt closed in May 2007, putting 500 people out of work. The plant opened in the 1940s, once employing 1,200.
Although potential buyers had looked at the building in the last few years, no deals had been struck. It’s been vacant since closing.
Pizzo’s company has an option to buy the property once the demolition is done.
“We fully intend to do so,” he said Thursday. “We think it’s a beautiful piece of property.” He noted the rail line, wastewater plant and water availability from the Staunton River. Located in the town of Hurt, the property totals 600 acres.
“We fully believe manufacturing is coming back. And we want to have an inventory to meet the demand.”
That’s good news to Mayor Lillian Gillespie.
“I hope something comes of it,” she said of seeing new jobs in Hurt.
Pizzo said demolition today isn’t done with a wrecking ball. He said there won’t be an implosion or explosion. Demolition will involve tools and equipment to take the building down. He said 90-95 percent of the steel will be recycled. The masonry block will be crushed or left whole for reuse.
“It’s a very surgical process,” he said. Pizzo said 20 pieces of equipment will work on the demolition.
Pizzo wouldn’t disclose the cost of the job, but said JW Demolition believes there is enough salvageable, recyclable materials to make it a worthwhile project.
While the buildings are big, Pizzo said the project is about average for his company. He said the company is demolishing a 1.5 million square foot building in South Carolina.
He said the inside of the main Burlington building is in poor condition.
“Over time, a building that is empty deteriorates,” he said.
He said the layout is inefficient for today’s manufacturing. Others in local government have said the ceilings are too low.
Staunton River District Supervisor Marshall Ecker said there will probably be people upset when the building is torn down, ones who worked there for years.
“A lot of sweat went in there. It made a good living for a lot of people.”
Pizzo said there’s a lot of emotion when a building like the Burlington property is torn down. He said if people want a piece of the material or a brick, he will make them available. He said much of the material that would have gone to a landfill will be recycled and used in another structure.
Pizzo said people with questions, comments or input about the demolition can call him at 704-332-7150 or by email at [email protected].
The Journal was unable to reach International Textile Group for this story.