[FONT=Verdana]Heavy equipment smacked into the brick facade of one of the buildings in the West Springfield Trade Center.

After years of behind the scenes work, the first public signs of the ultimate redevelopment of the site took place, as officials gathered for the start of demolition of part of the Trade Center.

Mayor Edward J. Gibson said the demolition is a major step forward in the city's years-long quest to clean up and redevelop the area. The Chamber of Commerce more than seven years ago was the first to see that improvements could happen, he said. When Gibson became mayor, the trade center redevelopment became a priority for him, the city's Redevelopment Authority and other local officials.

"This is the first visible sign that anything has been going on down here," Gibson said. Gibson thanked U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, for helping to secure funds for the redevelopment of the Merrick-Memorial area. He also thanked State Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, and State Rep. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, for getting the city designated by the state as an Economic Development Area. He praised the work of Joseph LaPlante, Community Development director.

"It's a great day," LaPlante said.

The plan is to "chew down" the brick facade and save the steel inside the smokestack and main building, LaPlante said. If that is not possible, the smokestack will be imploded, he said.

The bricks will be recycled, and the steel will be sold, he said. Selling the steel has kept the cost of demolition and cleanup down, LaPlante said. The demolition and cleanup needs to be completed by Dec. 31, he said.

Costello Dismantling Co. Inc. of Middleboro has a contract to demolish and clean up the site for $421,400. A $500,000 grant given to the city from state Department of Housing and Community Development's Economic Development Fund will pay for the work.

The trade center is an 18-unit, 166,312 square foot industrial condominium complex on 5.75 acres of land off Union Street. One of the buildings being demolished is the former building and smoke stack that contained Gilbarco, a manufacturing company that moved to North Carolina in the 1960s.

Not all buildings at the trade center will be taken down.

Walter Steinmetz owns and operates Walt Steinmetz Photography in one of the condos that will remain. Steinmetz opened his studio in 1988 and is pleased with the plans for the site.

"It's just amazing," he said. He said once the city got involved and took the site for back taxes, there was progress.

The trade center property was the site of one of the city's most traumatic events when Andrew J. Mann, 11, of West Springfield, died in a fall from the smokestack more than five years ago.[/FONT]