Contract awarded for Abbatoir demolition
Two east end properties bought by redevelopment authority
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The former Martin Shirt Co. and Shenandoah Abbatoir complex is seen from Burger King on Nov. 13, 2024.
SHENANDOAH – A Luzerne County firm has been tapped to bring down the behemoth former Shenandoah Abbatoir complex.
Wednesday morning, the Schuylkill County Commissioners approved awarding a contract to Brdaric Excavating, of Luzerne, to bring down the complex off East Poplar Street and Abbatoir Road.
The demolition will cost $169,000 and is funded through a grant.
The Martin Shirt Factory and the Shenandoah Abbatoir are two large, imposing structures comprising the campus.
They’ve been abandoned for decades. Martin Shirt closed in 1996, and a 1995 photo of the Abbatoir on the Schuylkill County Parcel Locator shows signs of decay at that time.
Owned by Glenn Paterson, now deceased, the Martin Shirt building has caught fire twice in the past 12 years.
Shenandoah Borough acquired both properties earlier this year and the county requested bids, which were due last month.
In other business related to blight in Shenandoah, two more dilapidated eyesores are moving closer to demolition.
Commissioners approved the sale of 125 East Lloyd Street — the burned-out United Wiping Cloth building — and 118 North Bower Street — a boarded up row home — to the Schuylkill County Redevelopment Authority for $1.
There has been talk of razing the properties and building senior apartments there.
United Wiping Cloth, owned by Semyon Klimov, of Brooklyn, New York, has sat abandoned since the fire. 118 North Bower is owned by Edward Spielberger, who passed away years ago.
Heather Dehanis, of San Antonio, Texas, is also a listed owner and has previously been unresponsive to property concerns in Shenandoah.
She is also a part-owner of the former M&T Quart Store property, which the borough brought down at its own expense after a partial collapse on the property. Fears that the building would fall into the street prompted the Heritage Day parade route to be adjusted.
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