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Projects that had no margin for error.

Demolition is judged by what’s still standing when you finish. These are jobs where the surroundings, the structure or the schedule left no room to improvise.

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The record

More than 2,000 projects since 1995.

Most of that work is routine — a structure comes down, the ground gets cleared, the site is handed over. The three below aren’t. Each had a constraint that decided how the whole job was sequenced.

Multistory · Occupied surroundings

Emmons Apartment Complex

Residential redevelopment · Location to confirm

Multistory structural demolition on a Sullivan Excavating project site.

Challenge

Two fire-damaged six-story towers standing in the middle of a working neighbourhood. Occupied buildings, live utilities and public streetscape on every side — with one neighbouring facility roughly four feet from the structure.

Scope

Full structural demolition of both towers, debris removal, and clearing of the site for redevelopment.

How it was done

The takedown was sequenced before anything moved, so each section came down away from what had to be protected. Utility coordination, protection of adjacent structures and controlled material handling ran throughout.

2 Six-story towers removed
4 ft To the nearest occupied facility
Ahead Of schedule at completion

Result

Both towers were removed and the site cleared ahead of schedule, with no damage to the surrounding occupied structures.

Selective · Historic preservation

Cammack Elementary School

Education · Location to confirm

Selective demolition of a brick school building with a retained front facade.

Challenge

The historic front façade had to survive intact. Everything behind it — a full three-story school building — had to come down. A façade with nothing holding it up is the most fragile thing on a demolition site.

Scope

Selective demolition of the three-story structure, with the front façade retained and protected throughout.

How it was done

Controlled saw-cutting separated the retained façade from the structure behind it before demolition began, so the two never came down together. Work was staged to keep load and vibration away from the retained wall.

3 Stories removed
Intact Historic façade retained
On time Completed to schedule

Result

The structure was removed on schedule with the historic façade preserved and no damage to the retained portion.

Heavy industrial · Reinforced concrete

Portsmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant

Municipal infrastructure · Location to confirm

Heavy industrial demolition of reinforced concrete structures at a treatment plant.

Challenge

A working treatment plant is not a building. Process equipment, flocculation tanks, thick reinforced concrete walls, and structures running well below grade into basements and sub-basements.

Scope

Demolition and removal of plant equipment and concrete structures, excavation of below-grade basement and sub-basement construction, and reclamation of the site.

How it was done

Heavy equipment matched to reinforced concrete, worked from the top down and then below grade. Material was separated as it came out, with concrete and aggregate pulled for recycling where the material allowed.

Below grade Basement and sub-basement removed
Reinforced Thick concrete tanks and walls
Reclaimed Site returned to usable ground

Result

The plant was removed down through its sub-basement structures and the site reclaimed and prepared for its next use.

Also in the record

Not every job gets a write-up.

A selection of other work that shows the range — from single-structure precision to municipal programmes running across years.

City of Huntington programme

Roughly 400 condemned structures removed between 2020 and 2024 under a municipal contract — repeatable delivery at volume, with environmental and municipal coordination on every property.

20th Street Baptist Church

Demolished at night beside a high-traffic intersection, using crane and wrecking ball with road closures and traffic detours coordinated with city and state transportation officials.

Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse

Large structural demolition followed by removal of more than 1,000 cubic yards of unsuitable soil and replacement with compactable fill. Finished ahead of schedule.

Hodges Hall, Marshall University

Demolition of the university’s oldest dormitory on an active campus, including backfilling deep crawl spaces and basement areas once the structure was down.

Sullivan has also worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, AEP, county agencies, land banks, school districts and healthcare organisations across the Tri-State.

Got something difficult?

Send the scope, the site and the schedule. Sullivan will tell you what’s involved and whether we’re the right contractor for it.

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Call (740) 533-2800  ·  801 Lane Street, Coal Grove, OH 45638