Little harm from partial 395 West Main demo collapse

Aug. 28--MALONE -- Work continues to secure the neighboring building and improve the river-edge appearance following partial collapse of foundation stone at 395 West Main St.

No one was hurt when remnants of the original stone and mortar structure gave way a week ago and fell partly into and along the Salmon River.

And village officials are confident placing steel plating on the east-facing wall of 393 West Main will secure the underlying brick surface and make the newly created vacant space downtown more attractive.

NO CONTAMINATION

Trustee Hugh Hill said earlier in the week that the material used to build the 395 foundation decades ago was river rock so when it landed in the river and on the shoreline, there was no danger of contamination or environmental concerns.

He said all the wood, metal and other construction debris had already been removed from the structure by contractors when it was standing so there was little left to come down besides the rock and mortar foundation.

Workers from Friend Construction in Malone have been meticulously removing the nine-story building a few yards at a time for the past six weeks, hired to do so after engineers declared 395 in imminent danger of collapse this past spring.

The structure stood along U.S. Route 11 and shares its foundation with the Main Street bridge and the building next door at 393 West Main.

It was directly over the village's main sewer line, which runs in the river under the bridge.

'WRAPPING UP'

The village feared costs would skyrocket if it had to shore up the bridge and 393 because of the shared foundation.

But Hill said the remedy was "not as big a mess as we first thought" and that the State Department of Transportation and State Department of Environmental Conservation were working closely with the village on it.

"We're wrapping things up and believe we will be done before school starts," he said.

SHEETS OF STEEL

Workers are installing wooden strips on the brick exterior of 393 then attaching sheets of steel to it, Hill said, similar to facing seen on other downtown buildings, such as the Richardson and LaShomb's Insurance.

The Village Board elected to take on the task of removing the delerlict 395 as a way of protecting the community, the river and the infrastructure.

It first created a concrete barrier to be installed over the sewer piping then brought in Friend to bring the building down.

The project has cost the village about $300,000 so far, and expenses mount at a rate of $45,000 a week as work continues, according to trustees.

VILLA BETTER BUILT

Hill said residents' concerns are unfounded about the possible impact the removal of 395 may have on the former Villa Fiore Restaurant site across the river.

He said star-shaped plates visible on the side of several stories of the building indicate steel beams run through the entire width of the structure, so it is unlikely to fall in.

Hill said compared to the number of stars 395 had, "there are four times more (at Villa), so it won't collapse. That building was better built."

Email Denise A. Raymo:

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