Crews begin demolition of Protano Auto Parts site in DeKalb

DeKALB – It was demolition Day 1 for a now-infamous property in DeKalb, as crews started shortly after dawn Wednesday to tear down dilapidated and contaminated structures on the site where Protano Auto Parts store once operated.

Several people who recalled the heyday of the former family-owned auto parts and salvage shop at 1151 S. Fourth St. pulled up Wednesday to witness the bulldozing of the vacant buildings that have blighted the area for years.

“It’s about time they tore them down,” Pat Hickey said about the store and two houses on the property.

He and his wife, Ann, parked their truck on Charter Street, facing the buildings, and they watched as a bulldozer knocked down the four-bedroom frame house adjacent to the right side of the shop. With coffee in hand, the couple reminisced about the days when Pat lived nearby and the auto salvage business was operational.

“It’s good to get [the demolition] done for our community,” Ann Hickey said. “It’s just awful to have that sitting here. It’s been there for years.”

About 7:30 a.m., DeKalb public works officials showed up at the 2-acre property with workers from Wagner Excavating to start the teardown. The DeKalb-based company was awarded the no-bid contract for the job, and then hired Cortland-based D.C. Trash to provide the metal dumpsters for the debris and to haul it away.

City officials said Wagner Excavating was paid about $16,000 for the work. The first day included removing the frame house.

By late afternoon Wednesday, one bulldozer still was scooping up wood slats and other rubbish.

The work is expected to wrap up today with the razing of the store, which is made of cinder block, and the second house, which is constructed of brick and cinder block.

“The plan is to take the cinder block ... and crunch it up or pulverize all that concrete block and put it in the basement of the wooden structure,” DeKalb Public Works Director Tim Holdeman said. “That way we don’t have to haul all that cinder block to another location. And it keeps it out of the landfill.”

The city purchased the property in February 2015 from DeKalb County. The owners had let the business and the property languish and owed as much as $100,000 in back taxes, according to county tax data. Additionally, environmental studies showed the structures had asbestos and the soil was contaminated with lead.

Holdeman said dirt brought in from another site would be poured over the crushed cinder blocks. After the structures are removed, remaining brush will be cleared, trees cut down to the stump and tires and other junk on the property will be removed by city workers, Holdeman said.

He said all of the work has to be done in a way that doesn’t disturb the polluted soil.

The public works director said that the demolition is the first step in the city’s plan to prepare the property to be sold.

“Visually, it’s going to be a lot more pleasant, a lot better aesthetically,” Holdeman said. “But ultimately, we want ... to get that site back to where it can be purchased by the next user.”

Rick Sipes said he worked for 13 years at the auto parts store and had lived in both houses. He stood for a while across the street from the site and watched as the place where he spent several hours a day removing parts from junked cars was demolished.

“I hate to see it go, but it’s in bad shape,” he said. “It needed to be torn down.”