Demolition begins at Southview High

Work to be finished this year

Lorain’s former Southview High School is coming down.

There was no formal ceremony to mark the beginning of the demolition at 2270 E. 42nd St.

But as of Sept. 19, excavators were visible tearing into the south end of the building.

On Sept. 17, Jeffrey Hawks, chief operations officer for Lorain City Schools, spoke to the Lorain Academic Distress Commission about the building.

Hawks estimated the asbestos removal would be completed within a week.

Contractors also could start demolition on parts of the building where the asbestos is gone, he said.

“So, hopefully, within the next couple of weeks, you will see quite a bit of movement in the demo of that facility,” Hawks said.

After that, the property will have a large green space and then in the future, will decide what to do with the property, he said.

On Sept. 19, demolition at the south side of the building was visible through the chain-link fence there.

Its front visible from Homewood Drive is missing

windows from the ground and second floors.

A fleet of implements and machinery was parked around the building to the east and south.

The demolition work was visible from the parking lot southeast of the building and between the former high school and the existing Southview Middle School.

Crews built the school in 1969, with and an addition in 1971.

The 175,000-squarefoot school primarily is masonry, with some steel structure as well.

Demolition will remove the high school building, its mobile classrooms, surrounding out-buildings, pavement, former Safety Town buildings, two baseball fields and the running track, according to plans.

In August, the Lorain

Design Review Board approved the plans to clear the site.

Demolition was planned to start about Sept. 1 with the goal to be finished by November, Charlie Fury, site superintendent for Hammond Construction of Canton, told the Design Review Board.

The company is serving as construction manager for the demolition project, with Arkinetics Inc. serving as supervising architects.

Coleman Trucking Inc. of Cleveland was awarded the asbestos abatement contract, which cost $360,000, according to district records.

Moderalli Excavating of Poland is the demolition contractor; the company bid $524,700 to do the job, according to district records.