Abandoned office equipment floats in more than 440,000 gallons of water that filled the basement of 78-88 Elm Street Friday. A fire suppression sprinkler head broke in the former B’s Gym storefront which is presently owned by the City of Westfield. The city obtained the property which is set be razed to make room for a new 130,000-square-foot multi-use commercial building. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – A building on Elm Street that was purchased by the city from Hampden Bank on Wednesday and that is set to be demolished to make room for a new commercial development, had a basement full of approximately a half-million gallons of water Friday.
According to City Advancement Officer Jeff Daley, employees of the city’s water department detected an unusual spike in water activity at the soon-to-be-razed building, which led to an investigation, subsequently uncovering the massive flood in the basement.
“Frozen pipes had thawed in the ceiling and flooded the building,” Daley said, pointing to the missing overhead panels as he trudged through the swamped carpet and shattered remnants of pipe underfoot. The pipes were part of the building’s fire suppression system.
Paul Liptak, owner of Truck Crane Service Inc. of Fairfield Ave., is in charge of the demolition of the building and believes this latest development will temporarily stall the proceedings.
“We’re still in the preliminary stages,” Liptak said as the water pump continued the arduous task of removing the approximately 448,940 gallons of water from the basement.
“We still have to get to work on the asbestos removal before we can begin to prep for demolition,” he said.
When asked of when the building would be laid to rest, Liptak refused to give a set date, but felt confident that by the first week of March the building would be ready for demolition.
