Demo crews in town this week, sizing up Bates 5 project

LEWISTON — The hard work planning to take down Bates Mill building No. 5 begins this week, according to Purchase and Budgeting Director Norm Beauparlant.

Representatives from demolition firm North American Site Developers Inc. of Boston are scheduled to be in Lewiston this week, studying the building to prepare for demolition.

"Actually, they know how they're going to bring it down," Beauparlant said. "What they need to figure out is logistics, where the equipment is going to go and what they need to do first."

The company is scheduled to begin tearing down the iconic sawtooth-roofed building early in March.

NASD had the lowest bid on the project last fall, agreeing to knock it down, remove all asbestos and back-fill the site for $782,000.

"Weather has been the big determining factor, and there is no snow on the roof now," Beauparlant said. "It's a good opportunity for them to come out and look at it and see what they have to work with."

Work is scheduled to wrap up in August.

The building is low to the ground but covers a wide area. It has more than 350,000 square feet of usable space inside, though little wood was used in construction. The work will have to proceed around a hydroelectric plant on the southern edge of the site.

Bates Mill No. 5 was designed by industrial architect Albert Kahn and opened in 1914. The top floor housed as many as 300 Jacquard looms during the Bates Co.'s heyday.

staylor@sunjournal.com