Syracuse, NY, March 20, 2006 –
Bianchi Industrial Services
is doing some of what it does
best over the next few days with
a vacant building adjacent to
St. Joseph’s Hospital Health
Center on the city’s north side.
The Syracuse-based national
demolition contractor has been
preparing the four story brick
and wood joisted structure –
formerly known as Learbury
Building #9, located at 408
North State Street – by removing
asbestos and other environmental
hazards before the building is
taken down systematically by
skilled operators.
The
70,000 square foot building,
originally built by the Shapiro
Pant Company, was purchased in
1939 by the Pietrafesa Company
and used for manufacturing and
shipping some of the highest
quality men’s and women’s
apparel for high-end designers
in the world. In the 1980’s, the
Pietrafesa sold the building to
St. Joseph’s Hospital, who used
it for a variety of support
services functions until
recently, when the structure
began to fail and needed to be
taken down. The building is
wedged up against one of the
hospital’s other buildings and
is located just a few feet from
the patient oxygen supply
system. It’s also located within
10 feet of the street.
All of
these issues are everyday
challenges to the Bianchi’s. "We
specialize in hard-to-reach
places," said David Bianchi,
managing partner of the firm,
who with his brother Bill, also
a managing partner, work to
preserve building materials
removed so they can be sold and
reutilized. This building will
yield thousands of board feet of
southern yellow pine beams and
flooring which will ultimately
end up in another building. "Who
knows, perhaps some of this
beautiful wood will end up in a
building project in the Syracuse
area," added Mr. Bianchi. When
the project is completed, the
land will be transformed into a
usable green space as part of
the hospital grounds.
Originally established in 1950
as a local demolition company,
Bianchi Industrial Services
remains a family-owned business
with national reach, providing a
full range of environmental
abatement and whole-building
recycling services to clients in
nearly 20 states. The company
owns a large fleet of specialty
demolition equipment, including
an ultra-high reach hydraulic
excavator, which is one of only
a few in the country and will be
used on the Learbury building.
Bianchi has worked nationwide on
large projects for chemical and
pharmaceutical manufacturers,
power and cogeneration
facilities, paper plants,
aerospace facilities,
warehouses, schools, retail
locations, sporting arenas and
hospitals. Bianchi maintains one
of the best safety records in
the industry. Bianchi Industrial
Services was the first to use
implosion as a method of
demolition in Syracuse on
projects including the Strand
Parking Garage, W.T. Grant and
Daniels’ buildings (site of
Galleries of Syracuse) and
Midtown Plaza. |
