Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
April 21, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The Kansas City Public Schools District is doing everything they can to properly prepare the Northeast community for the eventual demolition of the Thacher school building.

On February 25, 2015, the KCPS School Board approved the demolition of the former Thacher Elementary School. The thought process behind the demolition is it will better serve Northeast Middle School students with the expanded field space and parking.

This past Monday, the demolition contractor, Gator Industrial, along with members of the KCPS re-purposing team met with community members outside of Thacher to present information about the demolition and deconstruction process and answer any questions residents had regarding safety, schedule, and building material.

Since the building wasn’t saved, the goal of the community is to use bricks and other materials from the historic school building throughout the Northeast. The school district is working with the community to identify what it wants saved. District representatives said the estimated cost of demolition is around $240,000.

The roughly 30 attendees learned that the schedule for the project is set to begin this week, April 22, with an estimated completion date of July 3, 2015. First, Gator Industrial will conduct an environmental abatement. Asbestos abatement will be performed by B&R Insulation. Actual demolition of the building is expected to begin with the next month. The demolition crew will operate from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. All truck and vehicle traffic for the project will be isolated to the south gated entrance on Independence Avenue, with all vehicles traveling east to I-435. Dan Fitzpatrick, general manager of Gator, told the crowd that if there are any ever issues with the demolition process — noise or dust — to call him at 471-499-5341.