Dallas completes demo project.

Dallas Contracting Co. Inc., South Plainfield, N.J., has completed the demolition of the former Penick facility in Newark, N.J.

The plant demolition is part of a larger redevelopment of the site, according to a press release from Dallas Contracting.

The former plant was a contract manufacturer of controlled active pharma ingredients. The company produced a variety of inorganic chemicals, especially bismuth salts, several products via chemical synthesis or fermentation and a full range of opiate narcotics. Its main products were codeine and morphine.

The site consisted of more than 30 multi-story buildings and structures and a parking lot. The buildings totaled more than 250,000 square feet. As the plant had been added to and modified over the years, the buildings were an eclectic collection of building materials. Some buildings were comprised of large wood beams, with concrete floors and brick walls, whereas other buildings were built using concrete-encased steel beams and heavily reinforced walls and floors.

To offset the cost of the project for the client, Dallas Contracting carefully dismantled several of the wood beam construction buildings, resulting in nearly 100,000 board feet of salvaged wood materials. Additional cost savings came from Dallas's ability to salvage and sell used equipment.