Demolition

This is the way the Mercy Medical Center parking garage ended: not with a whimper, but a bang. And a bang. And a bang. And still more bangs. In mere seconds, the 10-story garage on Calvert Street collapsed into itself and passed into memory, leaving behind a crater-like hole, thousands of tons of rubble and, in the air and everywhere, clouds of fine dust. "This is step No. 1," said Dan Collins, senior director of media relations for the medical center. Once the site is cleared - a process that will take about a month, he said - plans for the new 18-story medical tower on the site can move forward.

For the beginning of the Yorkway Apartments demolition, Catherine Kates took a day off from work and got out her American flag. She has lived in a rowhouse near the complex for more than a decade, and several years ago had a backyard birthday party for her granddaughter. But she hasn't felt safe enough to sit on the porch or open her windows since. "I feel like I've been a prisoner," she said. "I had lost all hope." As the construction crane idled yesterday, the 55-year-old told a small crowd waiting for the first bricks to crumble, "As far as I'm concerned, today is Dundalk's Independence Day."

One day this week, workers began to disassemble a red barn in Green Spring Valley. They did not get far. Before the crew could finish removing the siding, a neighbor had called police, and Baltimore County officials ordered the work stopped, threatening a hefty fine. The barn is, a lawyer for its owner has said, nothing special. It is, some neighbors say, a precious link to the area's past. In Baltimore County, more than a few battles have been fought over a community's interest in preserving its history versus an individual's right to do as he pleases with his property.

The Memorial Stadium review panel met Wednesday night and made a "confidential" recommendation to Housing and Community Development Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III on redevelopment of the 30-acre parcel in North Baltimore, city officials said.The proposals are for a research and technology park, a senior citizen retirement community and a combined retail/housing use. The panel that studied the options included five city officials, a state official and five neighborhood representatives.Zach Germroth, an HCD spokesman, said Henson, who has the final vote on the matter, will decide soon.

Just weeks before it is slated to announce new plans to develop part of its campus, Beth Tfiloh Congregation was slapped with a fine yesterday for violating Baltimore County building codes.The congregation, off Old Court Road, was fined $1,500 at a county code enforcement hearing for tearing down a dilapidated house and garage without a demolition permit.James Kemp, a county building inspector, testified that he ordered Beth Tfiloh to stop demolition work on the house April 19 because the congregation lacked a permit.

A judge's ruling this week might end efforts by neighborhood activists in Charles Village to block the demolition of century-old rowhouses on Charles Street for the construction of a CVS drugstore.The Rhode Island-based chain plans to build a store at Charles and West 25th streets, but the effort has been opposed by a group of residents demanding the preservation of the six Victorian-style townhouses.Baltimore Circuit Judge Gary L. Strausberg said this week that he would grant the neighborhood group a temporary stay on the demolition to allow time for a lawsuit only if it posted a $2.5 million bond by Monday.

Demolition begins today on the remaining units at the empty Riverdale apartment complex in Essex, once a high-crime area and a nagging eyesore.County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger will be joined by U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and other officials as workers begin clearing the site in the 1800 block of Eastern Blvd."

The biggest fireworks display in Baltimore July 3 will be the demolition of a chapter in the history of public housing.City officials plan to ignite 500 pounds of dynamite to blow up the 14-story George B. Murphy Homes public housing complex on the west side.The demolition of the 758-unit complex is the most recent in a series of implosions designed to sweep away the outdated policy of high-rise projects."Baltimore is a boom town," said Mark Loizeaux, president of the city's demolition contractor, Controlled Demolition Inc. of Phoenix in Baltimore County.

Five turn-of-the-century buildings on West Street targeted for demolition at the end of the month won another stay when the Annapolis city council decided to wait until Feb. 28 to allow planners to draw up preliminary sketches of a garage officials want to build on the site.City administrators had planned to raze seven buildings in the 100 block of West St. on Nov. 23, but put off the bulldozing for 30 days after preservationists and downtown residents protested. Opponents of the razing have argued that five of the buildings are historically significant and should be saved.

Responding to a call from a concerned neighbor, Baltimore County environmental officials have halted work at the Glyndon campus of Beth Tfiloh Congregation after a construction crew chopped down about 30 trees without permission."

The city's development arm announced Thursday it will cancel a $1.5 million contract to demolish eight downtown buildings at Calvert and Lombard streets, the second planned demolition to be halted since The Baltimore Sun reported that the agency was not following the city's open-bidding rules. "We're not planning to do any future demolition at this time," said Baltimore Development Corp. President M.J. "Jay" Brodie. "We are not going to follow this approach of BDC soliciting work." The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the agency had awarded a $378,477 demolition contract at the proposed site of a slots casino after soliciting prices from a handful of firms rather than advertising the work publicly.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon directed the city's quasi-public development arm Tuesday to use a competitive bidding process for all future demolition projects, reversing a year-old policy and bringing the agency into line with city rules. The Baltimore Sun reported Monday that the Baltimore Development Corp. awarded a $378,477 contract to demolish the Maryland Chemical building to P&J Contracting, owned by Pless Jones, without publicly advertising that the job was available. Instead, BDC officials contacted a handful of city demolition firms and picked the lowest of three offers they received.

Baltimore officials awarded a demolition contract at the site of a proposed slots casino without public bidding, drawing concern from the city comptroller and the head of a contracting association. Rather than advertise the work as required for most city projects, the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's development arm, approached a handful of demolition firms and asked them to provide prices to knock down the Maryland Chemical building on Russell Street. The agency also sought estimates for a second project using the same selective method, to raze city-owned warehouses currently occupied by a nonprofit architectural salvage firm on Warner Street.

Since Tropical Storm Agnes ended its working life abruptly in 1972, Union Dam has stood in the Patapsco River as a broken monument to a bygone industrial era, but it's also an obstacle to migrating fish, a swimming hazard and a potential threat to a large sewer pipe. Its remaining time can now probably be measured in months. Fueled by federal stimulus money, efforts of state and federal officials and river advocates are expected to be realized in the coming weeks with a demolition crew rumbling into Patapsco Valley State Park on the Baltimore-Howard County line to begin dismantling the 209-foot-long concrete hulk.

THE PROBLEM: While demolishing an East Baltimore rowhouse, contractors damaged an adjacent building, according to the neighboring building's owner. THE BACKSTORY: Bobby Chen has owned a rowhouse at 1620 E. Chase St. since 2000. Last weekend, he discovered that his house had been damaged when the adjacent building, 1622 E. Chase, had been partially demolished by a contractor working for the city. On Tuesday, Chen said that the remains of 1622 were dangerous. He also said he was not aware of the demolition plan.

The few residents who were left living in the 2800 block of W. Lanvale St. last month coped with bullets flying in broad daylight, as Baltimore police exchanged gunfire with a gang member who had shot and wounded a fellow officer. Yesterday, residents and others gathered for the latest spectacle on this West Baltimore block: the demolition of several vacant houses - a move by the city that many people said was long overdue, pointing to the danger posed by crime and rats. Dozens watched and some clapped as a large excavator tore through a dilapidated brick duplex with its steel shovel.

Preservationists in Fells Point won a reprieve yesterday in their battle to save a row of buildings that were once a school run by Franciscan friars. Workmen who were about to begin demolishing the structures next to the former St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church were forced to lay down their tools when confronted with the news that they lacked a crucial permit. After asking to see their paperwork, City Councilman James B. Kraft said city officials had not officially approved the wrecking crew's plan to stabilize an 18th-century house that the preservationists hope will remain standing on the site.

CAMBRIDGE -- Preservationists are scrambling to save the fire-battered facade of a century-old storefront that was destroyed by a seven-alarm blaze Tuesday in the historic business district. Developer Brett Summers has obtained a temporary restraining order blocking demolition of the brick storefront, which housed two antiques shops. The building is next door to an old McCrory's store Summers converted into seven apartments and restaurant space. Summers said the 10-day court order will give the Cambridge Main Street program time to seek an emergency grant to shore up the storefront facade while he and other potential buyers decide whether to bid on it. "My first priority is to make sure [the McCrory's]

Johns Hopkins University professor James Harris says he and his wife thought they had found the perfect steward for their home of 27 years when they agreed to sell it to Calvert School in 2005. They were so delighted with the buyer, Harris said, that they sold the house for $400,000 less than its appraised value of $1.8 million and then donated $100,000 to the school to fund an educational program for students with special learning needs. But this fall, they're having misgivings about selling to the school, even though the large stone house at 200 Tuscany Road was built by its first headmaster, Virgil Hillyer.

One day this week, workers began to disassemble a red barn in Green Spring Valley. They did not get far. Before the crew could finish removing the siding, a neighbor had called police, and Baltimore County officials ordered the work stopped, threatening a hefty fine. The barn is, a lawyer for its owner has said, nothing special. It is, some neighbors say, a precious link to the area's past. In Baltimore County, more than a few battles have been fought over a community's interest in preserving its history versus an individual's right to do as he pleases with his property.