Just as the dust and debris were settling after the implosion of the Mill Creek Housing Project in West Philadelphia, so were the hopes rising for neighborhood residents that new housing would bring a better standard of living to the area of 46th St. and Fairmount Ave.

On a chilly morning in late November, three 17-story, 170-ft. tall buildings came crashing to the ground in seconds to the cheers of thousands of onlookers and special guests.

Earlier, CDI, of Baltimore, MD, had strategically placed dynamite charges, totaling 300 lbs. (100 lbs. per building) in concrete columns on the second, fourth, eighth and 12th floors of each building.

For Geppert Bros. Inc, based in Colmar, PA, the task of cleaning it all up was just beginning. Although the 77-year-old demolition company had received its notice to proceed on Sept. 15, 2002, most of the preliminary work over two months prior to the implosion involved prepping CDI for the blast.

“We got our Bobcats on the floors and gutted out the second, fourth, eighth and 12th floors in each building,” said Pat Marconi, vice president of Geppert Bros.

“We took out all the partitions and anything non load-bearing, including the stairs and elevator shafts. Then CDI drilled the columns and set the charges inside the concrete,” he said.

Geppert’s part of the project is worth $4.6 million and has included asbestos abatement. In addition to removing debris from the three buildings, Geppert will be demolishing 60 adjacent two- and three-story buildings via conventional means. Geppert has 215 days, (which began on Sept. 15, 2002) to finish its cleanup work, which will include taking out streets, curbs and underground utilities.

The Mill Creek Housing Project lot covers 13 acres (5.3 ha) and in all, Geppert will process approximately 30,000 tons (27,000 t) of debris.

Geppert crews, which on average include 12 operating engineers, one master mechanic and eight laborers, are working from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., five days a week.

The company has divided the project, which is on schedule, into four quadrants. Currently, one crew is working on cleaning up the debris from the high rises, while another operation is demolishing the 60 other buildings.

According to Marconi, Geppert is employing four Komatsu PC300 and two Komatsu PC400 excavators, two Cat 973 front-end loaders, several hydraulic hammers, a host of demolition buckets on both the excavators and front-end loaders, a UP50 universal processor and an Eagle portable crusher for the extensive project.

In all, Geppert Bros. owns roughly 30 pieces of equipment. Its Komatsus were purchased from Furnival Machinery, based in Harrisburg, PA, and the company’s Caterpillar equipment came from Giles & Ransome, of Bensalem, PA. Geppert’s Eagle crusher, which it purchased just last year, came direct from the manufacturer.

Working on the project in addition to Geppert Bros. is subcontractor MP Demolition Inc., of Philadelphia, which is providing project management; and Barclay-White, of Blue Bell, PA, which is the construction manager.

Geppert Bros., founded in 1925, has a long history of notable work in and around Philadelphia.

Just over a year ago, the company razed the Philadelphia Naval Hospital (a $10-million job) and recently did work on the 25-story Byrne Green Federal Building in Philadelphia, for which it removed the brick façade from the structure. Geppert Bros. also has done a lot of work for Drexel and Temple Universities in the city.

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