Tannery tower to tumble Tuesday

August 17, 2007
FROM LOCAL REPORTS
Muskegon Chronicle

By Tuesday afternoon, the former Whitehall Leather Co. tannery's landmark tower will likely be nothing more than a pile of crumbled bricks.

City officials said today the tower on White Lake is slated to come down at 10:59 a.m. Tuesday, weather permitting.

Apparently, the tower will come down with a bang. Dynamite is planned to be used as part of the demolition plan. Earlier, officials had thought the job might best be done with an excavator.

The tower demolition is part of the cleanup necessary for redevelopment of the former tannery site on Lake Street in Whitehall. Developers have proposed a 200-unit condominium community on the lakeshore site that was contaminated by more than a century of leather-tanning operations.

Some $50 million will have been poured into the effort when it is completed.

Demolition of the main tannery building, which includes the tower, began during a ceremonial groundbreaking July 13. The planned demolition of the tannery's tower has been delayed a few times.

Department of Environmental Quality officials announced recently that contamination from the tannery site may be seeping into groundwater at city-owned Svensson Park, just south of the tannery.

Test wells have been monitoring contamination levels on the southern portion of the 33-acre tannery site.

After the tower is torn down and the debris cleared, environmental analysis below the former buildings will occur, officials said.