The rubble of the Elks Lodge building site on Washington Avenue is well on its way to no longer being an eyesore in downtown Greenville.
With removal work starting last week, City of Greenville planning and zoning director Carolyn Williams shared the debris will be hauled to two different certified landfills — Big River Landfill in Leland and Little Man’s Landfill on Broadway Street in Greenville. Work is expected to be finished before the month’s end.
“The asbestos removal and complete demolition will be complete by March 27,” Williams said, according to the application to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Equality (MDEQ).
Williams said Kenneth’s Excavation, Demolition, Dirt & Gravel, Inc. and Lesure’s Excavation & Demolition, Inc. are both waste transporters for the emergency demolition.
After strong storms swept through downtown Greenville in the middle of the night on Jan. 10, the Elks Lodge was one of a number of buildings to sustain significant damage.
The Elks Lodge’s windows on the east end were knocked out and there was fundamental structural damage.
“It was too dangerous to leave up,” Mayor Errick Simmons said.
As a result, a joint effort between Kenneth’s Excavation Dirt & Gravel, Inc., Lesure’s Excavation & Demolition, Inc. and city crews worked to tear down the long-time dilapidated building.
On Jan. 28, the City of Greenville was granted a demolition permit for the Elks Lodge building on Washington Avenue by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
The building was considered as a possible site for the new federal courthouse but was eliminated in favor of Stein Mart Square for reasons such the lodge’s placement by MDAH as a contributing factor to the National Register status of downtown Greenville and lead contamination being identified as an environmental concern.
The city applied for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Cleanup grant for $350,000 because the site requires remediation.
Had the grant been awarded, it would have gone toward abating asbestos and lead paint and covering demolition costs.
In an August meeting, the city council rejected the only bid of $400,000 from the contractor, Lesure’s Demolition of Greenville.
The council decided to reject the bid because the cost was too high and they wanted to look at other options, according to City Attorney Andy Alexander.
