Suffolk News-Herald

Demolition prep work to the old Obici Hospital is expected to begin this week.

&uot;We’re ready as soon as we get that demolition permit,&uot; said Rusty Griffin, project manager for D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. Inc.

Griffin has been advised the permit will be issued next Wednesday, as soon as Dominion Virginia Power cuts off power to the outlying buildings.

The Greensboro, N.C.-based demolition company signed a contract to handle the estimated 5-month, $1-million project in late February.

Over the past two weeks, the city’s public works department and the telephone and cable companies have turned off their respective services to the North Main Street hospital campus, Griffin said.

The demolition will be done in two phases, with work beginning immediately on the medical science and nursing school buildings, Griffin said. It will take a little longer before demolition work can begin on the main building because of a working cellular phone antenna atop the building

The medical science building – the newest of several on the 22-acre site – will be the first to come down, Griffin said. While this building is being razed, a team will remove the asbestos-contaminated floor tiles from the nursing school before demolishing that building.