MACON, Ga. — Casey Bullington is the founder and president of the Georgia Environmental Group based in Macon.
Over the past 6 weeks, more than 40 of his crew members have worked through the old Ramada Hotel's 16 stories to get it ready for blast on New Year's Day.
"Right now, we're just removing debris from the building," Bullington said. "We were brought in initially to do all of the asbestos abatement, and then once that was done we did the interior demo to prepare for implosion."
This isn't the group's first rodeo working on a project at this scale.
Bullington says his team has been involved in about a dozen similar projects over the past 15 years.
"When we first came on site, the lobby through the sixth floor was completely remodeled and ready to move in, and it was a shame to go in there and tear out these new finishes," Bullington said.
But Bullington says this was not the same reality for other parts of the structure.
"There were several unseen areas, [the] basement full of water, the upper floors. Over the years, vandals got in there and stripped every ounce of copper pipe, copper wiring... so it was a mess," Bullington said. "As for the asbestos, a third party came in and did the testing and there was anywhere from floor coverings, sheet rock, pipe installation."
According to initial demo contracts, the building was set to be turned over to Target Contractors, the South Carolina-based company conducting the implosion, by the close of business last Friday, Dec. 6.
While Georgia Environmental Group is not involved in the demo itself, they say everything is on track for the Target Contractors team to take over once crews complete debris removal this week.
"I would say just follow the guidelines laid out by Macon-Bibb and keep your distance," Bullington said. "It doesn't matter how much they attempt to control it, it's gonna be dusty. I would stay the distance and I hope everybody enjoys it."
County officials told 13WMAZ information surrounding safety guidelines and a planned evacuation zone will be released later this week.
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