Edmond downtown demolition nears

City officials are waiting for the last utility company to complete its work before demolition crews can begin tearing down the old Chase drive-thru bank, on the northwest corner of Second Street and Littler Avenue, as well as the former Tammy's Laundry and a building where a playground business once operated, both at Littler and Hurd Street.

The demolition will make way for construction of a 70,000-square-foot building at 100 E First St., the new home for police headquarters, 911 communications and emergency management operations.

Traffic troubles

The construction period might be trying at times for people who visit or work in the downtown area.

Driving routes will be altered as streets are closed and the parking situation will become tougher for those venturing downtown.

“Traffic and parking will be an issue,” said Randy Drew, city project coordinator. “I will have 75 to 100 construction workers on site every day.”

City staff members are working on plans for what streets will be closed.

“We will not close down the streets until we have too,” Drew said. “We will wait to the last minute before we close a street down.

“We ask people to be patient. In the end, it will be worth it.”

The end will be in January 2015 when the public safety center is scheduled for completion.

Save the trees

Trees at the old Chase Bank drive-thru have been examined and flagged with orange tape to let construction workers know which ones city officials want to save and those they want to move from the property where the public safety center's geothermal heating and cooling system will be located.

Ryan Ochsner, the city's urban forestry coordinator, said the verdict is still out on whether the larger tree can be saved.

“It is nice to have nature in the dense urban area,” Ochsner said. “These trees are important.”

Five or six yaupon holly trees will be moved to the median on Chowning Avenue, he said.

Final plan work

The architectural plans, which could be about 100 pages with more than 1,000 more pages of specifications, should be about 95 percent complete by Friday.