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[FONT=Verdana]Demolition has begun on the last remaining major building at the former Pillowtex Corp. textile complex in downtown Kannapolis, an 854,292-square-foot sheet distribution center.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Crews with D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. are knocking down the 32-year-old building. That work should take about a month, said Tom Sanctis, director of construction operations for Murdock's development company, Castle & Cooke Inc.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Unlike some other buildings at the site, though, this one is not being imploded.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]The last big implosion was in late March, which took down 1.1 million square feet in two buildings, the bleachery and towel distribution center. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Workers are still sorting through that debris.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]Another familiar site, the 33-year-old Curb Motorsports building, also is scheduled to make way for billionaire developer David Murdock's $1 billion North Carolina Research Campus, a planned biotech hub.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]A former Pillowtex water tower and the iconic twin smokestacks also need to go, as does a 46,250-square-foot data center. There is no date set for their demise, although the stacks are expected to disappear this summer.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana]People going near the campus now can actually see a different view of the stacks, which bear the names of Pillowtex predecessors Fieldcrest and Cannon and have stood for decades. A power plant in front of the stacks is mostly gone, providing a clearer view of the 200-foot structures.[/FONT]
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I heard from Mr. Griffin tis morning and he said the elevator shaft dropped vertically and held, but they stayed clear and it toppled a bit later.
Not really a big deal given the amount of working room available.:)
Robert it is slight. If you look at the link that 1pyro posted and look at the ground view video and right above the crowd you can see it, it is similar to the way the the Zip Tower dropped. Like 1pyro said it drops a little afterwards.
I was wondering what you guys were talking about. I saw it on MSNBC and I didn't see anything hang up.
Watched the video shots after the implosion and the hangup section fell a couple of minutes after the blast 
I would say there was alot of dust. Yea, it looked like either an elevator shaft or possibly a stairwell.
Also looks like they are just cruising right along on the rest of the plat. Next-up I believe will be the 2 stacks this summer.
10:33 AM
October 7, 2005
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It looks like tomorrow is the big day.
Two more buildings will disappear later this month.
David Griffin said the site's next implosion is set for 7 a.m. on March 24.
More than a million square feet of buildings will fall. The 528,000-square-foot bleachery and the remaining 505,000 square feet of the towel distribution center are slated to topple.
That's about 10 million bricks, Griffin said.
Originally, the water tower was set to come down, but Griffin said Monday they would have to implode it another time. He said the water tower and the smokestacks would probably meet their fate this summer.
Half the towel center was imploded with about 2,300 pounds of explosives in November. Griffin expects more dynamite to be used for the upcoming project.
"This is a big one. It's very heavily built," Griffin said.
He said they began testing for the blast about two months ago.
He said more details on the implosion would come closer to the project date.
While they prepare for implosion, the demolition crew continues to make progress.
Griffin said about half of 5.8-million-square-foot Plant 1 site has been demolished to make room for the N.C. Research Campus.
The steel tonnage will be right close to what came out the Fulton County Stadium demolition.
I did a coal prep house for Duke power when I was with Griffin that contained bricks that were made on site (the plant sat on the Yadkin River); we crushed them for Duke to reuse on site as ground cover. It was a real recycling of product put right back where it came from!
10:22 AM
October 7, 2005
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Here is another interesting article:
7:30 PM
October 7, 2005
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It looks like the same thing is happening in the paper industry. There's been 4 mills put out to bid for demolition so far this year and we haven't made it out of January yet.
Unfortunately, a lot of mills have moved ops overseas. Cheaper labor markets and faster shipping make for a better bottom line. A buddy of mine has been in IT with various mills since college and he has seen his employers pull up and shift resources to Southeast Asia and South America. He said they are even moving plants to Israel ( or were about 5 years ago),Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
4:24 PM
October 7, 2005
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Plus it's right in their backyard.
I walked through this plant when it was operational. That was really impressive. I have never seen so many towels in my life!
Just out of curiousity, we saw the demise of the textile industry in RI and MA, and now in NC, where has all the textile production relocated to?
11:08 PM
October 7, 2005
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The second phase is almost as big as the first phase 
A D.H. Griffin Demolition Co. worker stumbled upon a smelly situation Wednesday on the Pillowtex Plant 1 site.
As he went to dig up a waterline near the bleachery with his backhoe, he accidentally struck and damaged a natural gas line.
Capt. David Winecoff of the Kannapolis Fire Department said the line at the West A Street/Chestnut Avenue intersection was breached around 9 a.m.
Winecoff said they immediately evacuated demolition workers from the building and isolated the area.
Winecoff said they shut off the main gas line about two blocks from the damaged line and monitored the bleachery and K-Town Furniture with air quality monitors.
Assistant Fire Chief Danny Scott said they have an air monitor on each truck. The device detects the percentage of a product in the air. The department's monitor can detect up to four gases.
Considering natural gas is extremely flammable, Scott said this equipment is much needed.
This is about the fourth time the department has been called to the site since demolition began to make room for the North Carolina Research Campus.
Firefighters were called to three debris fires at the site last year
3:42 PM
October 7, 2005
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This is a nice article about the demo
8:45 AM
October 7, 2005
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Now the hard part begins. Buildings like that are so difficult to move. You have 7 thick floorslabs with debris in between. (kind of like a big concrete sandwwhich ) It's tough to break the slabs to get at the debris because they are cushioned by the debris beneath them and due to the large footprint of the building it is pretty near impossible to push the slabs off. One good thing is that they have plenty of room to work. It's even worse when you only have one side from which to attack the pile.
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