By Joanie Morris

Kannapolis Citizen

Even while construction is going on for the new, multimillion dollar North Carolina Research Campus announced Monday by billionaire David H. Murdock, the remaining Pillowtex buildings will be coming down.

David Griffin Jr., vice president of D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co., said Monday that the demolition and cleanup of the plants will take close to 18 months. Currently, Griffin said, the company is six to eight weeks into the project.

"Right now, we have eight buildings in different stages of demolition," said Griffin. While most of the buildings will come down piece by piece, Griffin said the company will implode the smokestacks.

"It's the largest demolition project ever in the Southeastern United States," said Griffin.

Currently, the group is working on demolition at the northern end of Plant 1. Now that the announcement has been made, they will move a majority of their hands to the southwestern portion, where some of the first buildings will be built, according to City Manager Mike Legg.

And within the next 90 days, work will begin on the first of many new buildings in Kannapolis. The lake in front of the administrative building of Pillowtex will be drained and turned into an underground parking garage for the Core Lab Building, Legg said.

Murdock has not asked for any tax-based incentives at this time, Legg said. Instead, the city will most likely earmark new revenue for the project to pay for small requests Murdock may have, such as the parking garage and water lines.

Griffin said that about 80 percent of the materials from the demolished plants will be recycled, which the company does, as well. About 20 percent will end up in Cabarrus County landfills.

"Normally, probably only 20 to 30 percent is recycled," Griffin said. "We're tickled that such a large portion is recyclable."

While working on various projects all over the United States, including jobs in New Orleans cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina, Griffin said it is nice to be home.

"It's nice to get to do a job of this magnitude so close to home," said Griffin. D.H. Griffin Wrecking is located in Greensboro and the company has seven different branches ranging from environmental cleanup and recycling to construction, and a branch in Texas.

While being close couldn't have hurt Griffin in getting the massive job, he said he prefers to think that the experience of the company played a role.

"It definitely helped that we were from here," Griffin said, adding that they are the largest demolition contractors in the South. "We were fortunate that we had both the experience and we are from North Carolina."

Contact Joanie Morris at 704-932-3336 or jmorris@kannapoliscitizen.com.