A building is demolished at Crystal Springs Print Works in Chickamauga on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.Building owner: Crystal Springs Recovery Group.
Project: To demolish and sell recyclable materials from Crystal Springs Print Works, a 107-year-old fabric mill.
Size: 750,000 square feet.
Location: 100 Long St, Chickamauga, Ga.
Demolition crew: Fayetteville, Ga.-based Steel Stallion Express.
Description: A group of architects from Atlanta and Florida formed Crystal Springs Recovery Group to salvage metal machinery, flooring, beams and handmade bricks from the historic mill.
History: Crystal Springs employed 1,200 at its peak in the 1970s. Mill operator Steve Tarvin bought the business in 1983 with Stanley Cunningham and former Chickamauga Mayor Frank Pierce.Tarvin called it quits in July 2013 when the building needed repairs, including a $2 million roof. The building was sold in March 2014 to Crystal Springs Recovery Group. Tarvin and his partners still own the 74 acres on which the mill stands and other parcels nearby.
Plans: Owners plan to develop the land as a gated community or some other use.
Reclamation: Metal machines have been scrapped, and maple flooring is available for sale now, according to chickamaugawood.com, the demolition group's sales website. The 5.8 million bricks are next to be sold, and finally the old-growth pine beams will go to market. The beams came from huge 500-year-old trees harvested 107 years ago, the website says, "So this wood is 617 years old!"
More information: See chickamaugawood.com.
- Compiled by staff writer Tim Omarzu who may be reached at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.