By Rachel Denny Clow
Friday, November 8, 2013
CORPUS CHRISTI — Just 12 days into the demolition of the former Lichtenstein, workers are already five days ahead of schedule.
Camacho Demolition workers continued tear down on Friday, with workers on lifts removing bricks by hand on the Chaparral Street side and other workers spraying down demolition debris and using heavy equipment to knock down large sections
“All of the brick on the front face (of the building) has to be taken out by hand to not damage the new street below,” said Julian Camacho, general manager of Camacho Demolition. “We are also still working on asbestos abatement.”
The demolition timeline gives the company 45 days to knock down and remove materials in the first section so the first piers can be placed for The Cosmopolitan, Camacho said.
The Cosmopolitan includes 165 apartments with 3,800 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a partially underground garage.
Removal of the entire building is expected to take 90 days, he added.
“I would say they are ahead of schedule,” said Robert Howe, project manager with Realtex Construction.
He said this is due to both Camacho’s ability to fully staff the job and the cooperation of the city.
“In two months we expect to have Chaparral open fully, with one lane closed sporadically,” Howe said.