The City of Alcoa recently began site preparation at their new Service Center off Wright Road and Edison Street, the former location of the Veach-May-Wilson and Burruss Lumber companies. Before construction can begin, several buildings must be razed to make way for the new construction. Demolition of the boiler house was started on Friday, March 9, 2007 by Burnett Demolition & Salvage. The most visible structure on the site, the smoke stack, is scheduled for demolition on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. Trying to salvage the stack as a landmark proved futile when it was found to be structurally unsound.

Two other buildings will be saved and used for warehousing and storage by the City’s Electric and Public Works Departments. Demolition work should be completed by May 1.

Blaine Construction Corp. is the City’s general contractor for the project. APAC Harrison, Blaine’s grading subcontractor, will start staking & grading of the site this week. Construction of the entire project is expected to be complete by spring 2008.

The Service Center will be a cost efficient facility bringing together and centralizing departments that are now housed in four different locations throughout the City. The new center will house the Street, Sanitation, Water & Wastewater, and Engineering & Administration Divisions of the Public Works and Engineering. The Electric Department and the Purchasing, Warehousing, and Fleet Maintenance operations will also move to the new facility. C2RL Engineers located in Alcoa and Architect’s International, Knoxville, designed the Center.