Asbestos Costs Slows Hotel Demolition
Jackson, Michigan - Plans to tear down a defunct Jackson, Michigan hotel has been put on hold until those responsible for the demolition can figure out how to address the removal of massive amounts of asbestos at the site.
According to an article in the Jackson, Michigan Citizen Patriot, the Jackson County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority is trying to find funding sources for a $600,000 job that will result in the removal of tons of asbestos-tainted drywall mud from an old downtown hotel that has sat vacant for several years.
County commissioners had already set aside $1.8 million this year to demolish the eyesore, but the bill soared when the asbestos mud was discovered. Amy Torres, the director of the local Brownfield Authority, noted that it had been apparent all along that asbestos would need to be removed, with about $150,000 slotted for that job, but they weren’t expecting the cost to top half-a-million dollars. Now, they’re hoping that additional Environmental Protection Agency clean-up money – allotted for such projects – can be used to close the gap between the $150,000 and the new figure for asbestos removal.
The mid-rise hotel, most recently known as the Riverwalk Plaza, is owned by Jackson County due to unpaid taxes. It is typical of many buildings constructed before the late 1970s, an era when hundreds of construction products contained toxic asbestos. Everything from floor tiles to adhesives to cement blocks once contained asbestos, largely due to its durability and its reputation as an excellent fire deterrent. Failure to remove dangerous asbestos products can result in exposure to hazardous dust, which can cause cancers such as mesothelioma.
County officials hope the new bid for asbestos abatement is “high-end” and “worst-case”. "We're hoping the bids would come in lower," said Torres. "They may come in quite a bit lower, depending on how hungry people are for work."
