Asbestos at Norfolk library drives up demolition cost

Posted to: Light Rail News Transportation and Traffic

The contract
To remove and dispose of the hazardous material, Hampton Roads Transit’s board added $593,000 to the demolition contract Thursday. It now totals $1.5 million.

By Debbie Messina
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 26, 2009

NORFOLK

Kirn Memorial Library, which is being readied for demolition for a light-rail station, is far more laced with asbestos than anyone ever thought.

It's in the ceiling, the walls, the columns and even the glue on the floor.

To remove and dispose of the hazardous material, Hampton Roads Transit's board acted Thursday to add $593,000 to the demolition contract, which now totals $1.5 million.

Norfolk councilman and HRT board member W. Randy Wright said the overall light-rail budget, $288 million, will not change.

"It is part of existing contingency funds," he said.

Even before Thursday's change, the demolition contract with S.B. Cox Inc. was triple the original projections - all because of asbestos. The contract covers razing Kirn on City Hall Avenue as well as the Baylor Building on York Street, which is now gone.

The full extent of the asbestos could not be identified until the library moved books out at the end of 2008 and crews could open up walls and floors and test the material.

Most of Kirn's books and staff moved to a smaller building, the historic Seaboard Building, which was renamed Norfolk Main Library. Over the next four years, a $50 million addition will be built onto Seaboard.

Much of the hazardous material in Kirn has already been dealt with.

Crews will use an excavator to knock down the 47-year-old former main library, beginning on July 6. The site will be cleared by the end of August, said Fred Schneader, HRT's senior vice president for construction.

HRT is partnering with the city to build a 7.4-mile light-rail line beginning at the medical center near Brambleton Avenue, going through downtown and reaching the city line at Newtown Road.

The line is projected to open in late summer or early fall of 2010.

Construction is being paid for with federal, state and local money. Norfolk's share is $53.7 million. The state is contributing $67.1 million and the federal government is contributing $167.2 million.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com