Andrea Klassen – Kamloops This Week
Though it will be mid-August before the public sees the former Kamloops Daily News and The Bay building coming down, demolition at the downtown site is underway.
Capital projects manager Darren Crundwell said work has begun inside the building on property at Seymour Street and Fourth Avenue, which was purchased by the city for $4.8 million after the daily newspaper folded in 2014.
Crundwell said crews will spend two to three weeks removing hazardous materials from the building before it is fully demolished.
“It’s the asbestos floor tiles and there was asbestos in the boiler, in the insulation. They’re just removing that and it’s pretty strategic work,” he said.
Dakota Reclamators Ltd. has a $500,000 contract to tear down the building, making way for a parking lot that will be built by city staff. Other project costs, including $100,000 for design and $200,000 for contingency funds, as well as a $300,000 bill to build the lot, bring the total cost of the project at $1.1 million.
Crundwell said the contractor is looking at two options for demolition, either beginning on the roof of the building or at street level.
A report to city council put the full time required to demolish the building, as well as the remaining foundations of some previously demolished properties that remain on the site, at about 12 weeks.
The parking lot is expected to be ready by late fall, though paving will not be completed until spring of 2018.