#OldSchool: Glick’s Date With The Wrecking Ball Set

By Greg Pierquet, Sunday, January 21, 2007
Marshalltown Times Republican
Heavy machinery sits outside Glick School in anticipation of Monday’s demolition. The demolition company will set aside bricks for those interested.

Glick School’s demolition day has been set for Monday, Jan. 22. Located on the corner of Linn Street and 3rd Avenue and named after German immigrant Dr. George Glick, the 105-year-old building will be coming down after 10 years of sitting vacant and months of asbestos removal.

DeCarlo Demolition of Des Moines General Manager, Dan Cretors, said communities tend to watch old schools coming down with a lot of interest because so many have memories associated with the buildings.

“There’s always an interest in old schools, but this building has been picked clean as much as any we’ve done,” he said. “They’ve taken out most of the lockers, the chalkboards, the basketball hoops, the scoreboard, so there’s really not much there that people will want except for maybe some bricks.”

He said the initial knocking down of the building will take relatively little time compared to the month-long process required for clean up. Cretors said the company will recycle as much of the brick, wood and concrete as possible.

Marty Wymore, Region 6 Planning Executive Director, said the demolition crews will take shovels full of bricks and place them outside the southeast corner of the fenced-in area as demolition begins. Individuals can take one of those bricks if they would like. However, he urged all bystanders to stay out of the demolition area.

Region 6 Planning and the City of Marshalltown collaborated to fund tearing down the building. Region 6 Planning applied for grants from the state to cover the cost of demolition, and the City will use $150,000 in tax increment financing money to supplement those grants.

Center Associates plans to use Housing and Urban Development grants to build a 10-unit apartment complex at the site once demolition and clean-up are finished.

According to Diane Baker, business operations manager for Center Associates, the HUD grant means her company will essentially own the property but will receive no benefits from it until after the 40-year grant has expired.

Center Associates plans to bring in a Des Moines managing firm called National Management to handle the complex’s daily operations.