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The leveling of Riverview Tower in New Albany is expected to be completed by the end of November.
Spectators watch as crews tear down Riverview Tower in New Albany. The structure was most recently used for public housing.
The leveling of Riverview Tower in New Albany is expected to be completed by the end of November.
NEW ALBANY — Roughly 20 cars rested in a normally empty parking lot in downtown New Albany last Thursday, their inhabitants’ heads tilted back to watch the demolition unfold before them. A huge wrecking ball attached to a drooping tire walloped the tower of crumbling cement and twisted rebar.
Spectators watch as crews tear down Riverview Tower in New Albany. The structure was most recently used for public housing.
Chunks of the 48-year-old Riverview Tower then plummeted into a moat of debris.
Hitting an object with that much force creates a sizeable reverberation. The rubber tire, 23-year-old Ryan Dobson explained, protects the crane operator from the shock.
Like many of the onlookers, Dobson stopped by to watch the structure’s demise because, even though he’s in construction, the Corydon resident had never seen anything like it. Sixteen-story buildings, such as this one on Scribner Drive, don’t come down every day.
“That’s a good one,” he said after the ball smashed against the upper building remnants once again.
Water from the ground blasted high onto the building, ensuring fewer dust particles are released into the air.
Razing of the towers started on Oct. 17 after the New Albany Housing Authority (NAHA), the property’s administrator, deemed the structure unsafe. Initially built as units for the elderly, the 162 apartments most recently were used as public housing for folks of all ages. Since spring, the tower has been vacant, with NAHA having helped relocate the remaining tenants using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development vouchers throughout the community.
Clad in clothes emblazoned with the American flag and words of political protest, Jacen Cockerell stood in the parking lot near Oak Street. Since day one, the Portland, Kentucky resident catches a 6 a.m. bus to downtown New Albany, stops by Dairy Queen for a Country Platter and walks to the demolition zone. There he spends his day.
“You should have seen it the morning that they started. They were talking about it a week in advance,” Cockerell said. “That Monday morning at eight o’clock, you should have seen this parking lot, that lot over there, the ball field. All of them. They were all full, like a live drive-in theater.”
Sitting in the back of his pickup truck donning a cowboy hat to provide some shade, Dennis Walts stayed about two hours observing the destruction. On this sunny, unusually warm November day, a late fog kept the lifelong New Albany resident from mulching his leaves. Instead of watching TV, Walts opted to view the ever-changing scene in front of him.
“For me, I worked for LG&E in the construction department for 16 years,” the 69-year-old said. “We built power plants. I was always involved in putting them up so I’m kind of interested in watching someone tear something down.”
That’s not an unpopular sentiment here in the lot. NAHA Executive Director David Duggins said he’s visited the site many times since the demolition began and has met with those watching and listened to their stories.
Folks stop by for myriad reasons, he said, at all times of day.
“It’s always a different group of individuals. There are families. There are elderly individuals. Every walk of life is down there checking it out. You just don’t see a demolition of a large structure,” Duggins said.
Former residents also stop by, observe and reminisce. Duggins, a New Albany resident himself, appreciates hearing their remembrances.
“It served its purpose,” he said. “That building housed a lot of people over a number of years.”
Memories are one of the reasons Jesse Cockrill and his wife Frances Cockrill watched from the parking lot that day. Frances’ sister lived on the 15th floor of Riverview for roughly five years. She told her husband she’d like to see it as it’s torn down.
So, the Elizabeth couple made the drive.
“I have memories, you know. I’ve been in that building many times,” Frances said as she stared at the building remnants.
“It’s ragged looking now, isn’t it?” her husband added, staring into the sky.
Completion of demolition should be finished by the end of November. Then, the debris will be sorted, any metals recycled and the rest of the rubble hauled away. Duggins expects to see an empty pad in the place of the towers by the first of the year. Only then will the city accept proposals for the sale of the lot.
Created by NAHA, a nonprofit that develops affordable housing in the community will receive any monies from the deal.
“Riverview Tower has served the residents of New Albany for almost 50 years,” Duggins said. “That legacy will continue with the proceeds creating another more fitting affordable development in the future.”
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