Uptown Reinvestment Corporation announced Thursday that key contracts have been awarded for the demolition of the Genesee Towers building.

A Flint-based company, Siwek Construction, has been chosen to oversee the project. Siwek Construction is a full-service contractor, construction management and design/build company.

In addition, two other local companies, Burnash Wrecking, Inc. and Certified Abatement Services, Inc., have been selected as parts of the demolition team. Burnash Wrecking specializes in commercial, industrial and residential demolition. Certified Abatement focuses on protocols related to asbestos, mold and lead remediation and renovation.

Contact Drilling & Blasting out of Jacksonville, Florida is a nationally recognized implosion firm. They have been hired to handle the implosion engineering and blasting efforts.

Tim Herman, president of Uptown Reinvestment and CEO of the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce, said "I know everyone has been waiting to hear about the next steps with the Towers. We have put together a strong demolition team to help us bring down the building in a safe and responsible manner."

The environmental process is expected to wrap up this week. Once that is complete the implosion engineers can start determining their work. Over the next few weeks, meetings will be held with the demolition team, the City of Flint and other local stakeholders. Those meetings will focus on safety, work plans and coordination of all other aspects of the project leading up to the implosion. If all goes smoothly according to Dave Lurvey, a consultant managing the project on behalf of Siwek Construction, "the implosion will occur in mid-December."

 

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