Realty Tower Site Expected to be Cleared By Month’s End

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The owner of the excavating company that demolished the Realty Tower expects debris to be removed and the lot to be filled by the end of this month.

Crews from Moderalli Excavating Inc. of New Springfield took down the last piece of the building stairwell. 

“They’ve got to haul out the stairwell today, and we’ve got four or five loads of trash left and then that’s all done,” company owner Gary Moderalli said. 

A fill comes next, likely next week, he said. Then crews have to take the cranes apart and haul them out. 

“I would say next week it’s going to be out of there,” Moderalli said. 

That depends though on the place where his company takes the crane having the equipment to disassemble it.

The site will be turned into a temporary parking lot. Building owners haven’t announced their plans for when the site is cleared.

Late last month, the owners released a statement:

“It is with hope for the future that we remain committed to the Realty Tower site. We have every intention of continuing our legacy of paying homage to Youngstown’s history while moving it toward a vibrant future,” Live Youngstown/YO 47 said in the statement. “The redevelopment of this site will be an extensive process. In the interim, the site will be leveled and will remain vacant as we begin the lengthy process of reimagining and planning a new project worthy of this historic site.”

All told, Moderalli believes the demolition project moved fairly quickly, but the 100-year-old building didn’t go down easily.

“The building was a lot tougher to take down than we thought,” he said. “Everyone just thought it was going to fall down, and I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was.”

It was steel throughout the structure that made demolition difficult. 

“Even for that larger crane, it still took time,” Moderalli said. And the roof was tough too.

The company started the project with a smaller crane and then brought it a larger one.

“We could have done it with the crane we had, but it would have taken a lot longer,” he said. “That’s why we got the other one, just to finish it up.”

Even with the larger crane, workers had to cut some of the steel by hand using torches. Between eight and 10 people worked on the site throughout the demolition.

“You can go faster, but the problem is you’ve got a building that’s 10 feet away in the back,” Moderalli said, referring to International Towers. 

They had to take safety precautions to guard against someone getting hurt. Excavating crews also had to work to curb dust.

“If you go real fast, you’re smashing it, and it’s making a lot of dust,” Moderalli said. 

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requires dust to be wet down to contain asbestos.

“We had to slow down,” he said. 

Earlier this week, the city announced plans for what officials are calling The Open to bring people back downtown. The free Oct. 19 event will feature live music with a stage on West Federal Street. The date coincides with other events and activities in the city that day.

A May 28 natural gas explosion damaged the historic downtown Realty Tower, killing one man, injuring several others and displacing more. 

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the explosion, but board officials have said it could take up to two years to complete the inquiry.

Pictured at top: The site of the demolished Realty Tower.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.