Up in Smoke(stack): Demolition has Begun on Claremont’s Sullivan Tower

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — Demolition has begun on a well known smokestack, the “Sullivan Tower”, in Claremont.

The deconstruction of the tower began after the city council voted to allow former city manager John Bohenko to begin creating a contract with a local company to destroy the tower at cost to the city. The danger posed by the crumbling tower, steeper costs to fix it, an offer to demolish at cost, and the possibility of a river walk in the area that the tower now sits, led to the city council decision.

“We had approved for the city manager, then Mr. Bohekno, to enter into negotiations with Mike Lemeuix with Pine Hill Construction to complete the project at cost for a total of $20,000. I’ve heard recently that the actual total is going to come in much lower than that, which is always a good note,” Claremont Mayor Dale Girard said of the initial phases of the tower’s demolition.

The conversation and preparation for the tower’s demolition has been an ongoing process, as the city continues to engage with the community as to how best to utilize the space. After the city brought in an engineer who said that, due to safety concerns, a portion of the tower would have to come down and possibly reassembled at a cost to the city, the planning and development team brought in UCONN TAB for brownfield assessment.

The city of Claremont received funding from the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Planning Commissions for the brownfield assessment of the parcel of land that the tower sits on as it is the site of the former Gas Works Company, as well as technical assistance from the EPA in regard to the soil contamination. After community conversations and a presentation from UCONN TAB, a number of potential ideas have been tossed around as far as what is possible and what the community would like to see for the space including a brewery, hockey rink, and outdoor music venues. The land does have activity-use restrictions, but those would not remove the possibility of any and all use.

“While this was a project I sort of inherited, I’ve done everything I can to help the process along. For example, after the contract was negotiated with the laborers, we had to find a crane tall enough to dismantle the tower. Planning Director Nancy Merrill also had to have the ash tested in the tower and have a vacuum truck come in and take out all the ash. As for the bricks, those will stay where they are and there has been discussion as to potentially trying to repurpose them for a riverwalk,” City Manager Yoshi Manale said in regard to the ongoing process of the towers demolition.

While the tower holds historic value for the city of Claremont’s well-known mill town history, it was for many years repurposed as a number of things including a canvas for graffiti artists as well as an impromptu d.i.y skatepark.

“Yeah it was a long time ago now, but we all got together, pooled in like 200 bucks and bought cement. It was at a time when it felt like city hall wasn’t sure what they were going to do about building a skatepark, so a bunch of us got together and built ourselves a place to hang out,” one of the original builders of the skatepark ramps that sat at Sullivan Tower stated.

There is also a significant amount of graffiti covering the walls that urban explorers post videos of themselves climbing over at the Sullivan Tower location including murals remembering lost loved ones, original art, and the occasional swear word or marijuana leaf.

“I want to finally expose Craig for tagging over my Warriors mural from 9th grade,” one graffiti artist joked about the many layers of art that sit on the walls outside the tower.

The tower demolition is expected to be completed soon and under the original cost that was proposed. The future of the downtown location is still under consideration.