Demolition of Delafield’s Former City Buildings Begins

Delafield, WI – Demolition began on the former City of Delafield’s fire station, police station, city hall, and library located at 500 Genesee Street in Delafield, Wisconsin on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 8 am. A crowd of around 25, including the City of Delafield Mayor Ed McAleer, City of Delafield’s Fire Chief Jack Edwards, City Committee members, and students from Cushing Elementary, gathered as demolition crews began the demolition process by tearing down the former fire station. 

Crews will complete the demolition process by tearing down the former fire station and city hall, and portions of the former police station and library over the next three weeks. Upon completion, construction of the City of Delafield’s new 10,960-square-foot Library will begin on the site. Concurrently, renovations of the remaining building portions will be transformed into Delafield’s new City Hall. When complete in fall 2010, the new 21,485-square-foot Library/City Hall building will include a 10,960-square-foot library, a 3,854-square-foot City Hall, and 6,671 square feet of shared space. Serving as an Agency Construction Manager, Mortenson Construction will oversee all aspects of the project’s demolition and construction.

Demolition of these buildings began after the City’s library and city hall employees were relocated in December 2009 to temporary spaces and the City’s Police and Fire departments moved into their new stations in the 29,600-square-foot City of Delafield Public Safety Building located at 115 Main Street in Delafield, Wisconsin.   

A unique aspect of the City of Delafield’s Library and City Hall and Public Safety Building projects is their close proximity to the local elementary school, Cushing Elementary.  Upon selection for this project, the City of Delafield, Agency Construction Manager, Mortenson Construction, and Architect, Bray Architects, recognized the opportunity to involve students in these projects.  All three organizations supported Cushing Elementary’s desire to bring real-world learning, particularly in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), to the students based on their ability to literally “see” the projects’ evolution based on their location.  The owner, construction manager, and architect have welcomed the opportunity to continually reach out to the students throughout the different stages of these projects. 

Over the past year, students have been involved with a variety of tours of the former sites, presentations and previews of what the new facilities will entail, and meetings to share what they’ve learned.  Continuing with this hands-on learning, a handful of fourth and fifth grade students were on-site Monday, January 11, 2010 for the onset of the demolition process.  “The students were excited to see the demolition in progress and captured some great pictures and video to start on news production,” said Amanda Thompson, Principal of Cushing Elementary.  “The team will be working on printing some pictures for our construction timeline and creating a prerecorded video for our morning announcements.”  This handful of student reporters was chosen to participate in this live/learn activity by writing letters to their teachers with reasons why they would serve as the best construction reporters.  After gathering facts, taking in the sounds of the demolition, the group will now report all of the happenings back to their fellow students.