Demolition Work Begins on Clayton’s “Town Lot”

The demolition phase of work is being done at the corner of E Main Street & Lombard Street in downtown Clayton as part of the plans to get the site ready for construction of a more attractive and usable public space. The work is being performed by in-house forces to save project cost. Town crews are removing the crepe myrtles that lined the sidewalk and are pulling up granite work that was installed by Ashley Horne at the turn of the 20th century. The removal of the granite requires extra care since it is over 100 years old and will be reused in the new project. The demolition work is expected to end on Thursday and there will be a period of inactivity until the construction project begins. Town officials say they will make every effort to accomodate the needs of businesses and their customers during this time.

Actual construction of the new project is expected to begin sometime in April or May and last approximately 90 days. Plans for the new space, as yet unnamed, have been in the works for some time and will go out for bid by the end of March. Temporary parking is being developed adjacent to the existing lot just to the west behind Hometowne Realty, WR Starkey and Pier 33 Seafood.

Several views of what the space will look like upon completion are available here.  A project blog is being developed to keep information current along with photographs of the work in progress and guidance about customer parking.