Jacksonville implosion pushed back to January

The implosion of an 18-story building in Jacksonville, Florida, has been postponed until early January 2022, according to a report on the FirstCoastNews.com website.

The demolition date for the Berkman Plaza II building, now scheduled for Jan. 8, 2022, was previously set for Dec. 20 of this year. Prior to that scheduled date, the project had encountered other delays previously, according to the website.

A letter from the property redeveloper to the city reportedly said the demolition budget has doubled since the onset of work started in the fall of 2020, having encountered “a litany of problems and unanticipated obstacles.”

Those obstacles, according to the developer and FirstCoastNews.com, have included: delays in getting the initial permit; an attempt at dismantling the building from top to bottom that was discontinued because of structural integrity concerns; an implosion scheduled for October that was delayed because of difficulty in obtaining protective fencing; and this most recent delay caused because a key risk assessment consultant has a fully booked schedule.

“We determined to use the most experienced and capable implosion contractor to meet our absolute commitment to safety and predictable results; this is why we decided to select the best in the business,” FirstCoastNews quotes the developer as writing. “However, this unfortunately created challenges in scheduling we have had to deal with in order to find a date that was not already committed to (the contractor’s) many other customers worldwide.”

A separate online report by the Jacksonville Daily Record says the implosion contractor is Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc. (CDI). That firm has been involved in numerous implosion projects in 2021. CDI’s tasks included taking down the remaining portions of the collapsed Champlain Towers building in Surfside, Florida. 

The 18-story Berkman Plaza II building has been vacant for more than 13 years, according to the website. The redeveloper plans to build a new 26-story tower and three shorter buildings on the property.