Demolition Gets Underway at Kloter Farms

Wednesday marked the beginning of a new chapter for as the shell of the old building was demolished.

“Today is the official demolition day where we pull down the atrium and the main showroom that was impacted by the fire,” Director of Marketing Todd Root said. “We will be tearing down most of the rest of the building. Some of it has to come down with excavators the way it is now and the rest of the building will be basically torn to the studs by hand. Some of the building will not come fully down because we don’t need to pull it completely done. We’re doing all that major work right now.”

According to Root, the demolition and cleanup will only take a few days.

“We’re going to be carting out loads of debris over the next couple of days so I think by the end of the week most of it will be done – though it may it stretch a little bit into next week,” Root said. “Then the rebuild starts.”

Root said that the rebuild will take the first half of next year and that the goal is to be up and running by the summer of 2012.

“We’re not wasting any time,” Root said.

The building, which will have a fire-protection system, will be similar to the previous building.

“It’s going to look similar and it’s going to have the same kind of feel, but obviously it’s going to be completely redone on the inside,” Root said. “It’ll be exciting to see.”

Demolition day was a bittersweet one.

“It’s sad to see the old building go down completely, but it’s also exciting to begin the new chapter for that building,” Root said.

To see more photos of demolition day, check out the Kloter Farms Web site.