What is the City going to do about that hulking eyesore on the south side of town? This question brings to mind the adage; how does one eat an elephant, a rotting, decaying elephant? The Answer: hold your nose and take one bite at a time.
Beatrice, like many communities across the country, has been left with a remnant of a time when large-scale manufacturing took place here. Through product obsolescence or outsourcing of production to countries around the world, once thriving industries have abandoned unneeded facilities (elephants, if you will) in the towns they called home. Dempsters is our elephant.
Aside from the hundreds of broken windows and the boarded-up doors on the four hundred linear feet of building façade along South 6th Street, there is a sprawling compound inside. The compound sits on nearly 9.5 acres. Of these 9.5 acres, nearly 3.6 acres are covered by structures. Nearly half of the compound is concrete. There are five separate buildings on the interior of the property:
- The foundry (20,000 square feet),
- The wood shop (19,000 square feet),
- A manufacturing and warehouse building on the south side (26,000 square feet),
- A pump testing building, and
- A mechanics shop.
In 2018, the Community Development Department began the process of inspecting the structures and documenting the condition of each building. At the end of this process, we found all of the structures to be unsafe and unfit for use. In 2019, the entire compound was condemned, and the buildings ordered demolished. The remaining tenant moved out and the vultures descended upon our now dead elephant.
Bite 1: The vultures picked the place clean. Anything of value that could fit through a hole in the fence was carted away. In the scavenging frenzy, large electrical transformers containing PCB-laden oils were dumped onto the ground to gain access to the minimal amount of copper contained therein. Enter the EPA.
Bite 2: The EPA has been an invaluable partner in cleaning up the hazardous materials found on the property. Their team mitigated the oil spilled from the transformers. They also identified and removed thousands of gallons of old diesel fuel from tanks inside the building. Soil and groundwater testing has been done throughout the compound.
Bite 3: In August 2023, during a walk-through to assess the continued deterioration of the structures, an issue with the mechanics building was discovered. The roof of the building had completely collapsed onto the second floor. The added weight broke one of the main beams supporting the building. The building had become a danger to the public and was demolished in September.
Bite 4: TBD. The City continues to work towards acquiring ownership. As we near ownership of the property, the City can begin applying for State and Federal grants to aid in the cost of paying for this meal nobody wanted.
Chet McGrury
Community Development Director