The water dates to 1927. The property was last occupied by the Kramer refrigeration company in 1990.
TRENTON -- A rusty old water tower in a vacant lot off North Olden Avenue is scheduled to be demolished Saturday morning.
Developer Jeffrey Faigle, of Faigle Realty Co., who owns the lot, has been clearing the property for about a year in preparation for Jersey Precast to occupy is as a storage area, Faigle said Friday.
File photo On Saturday morning, the water tower on the property - which is over 100 feet tall - will come crashing down, he said.
The plan is to explode the base of the one of the tower's four legs and then hope the tower twists and falls to the ground, Faigle said. This is scheduled to occur between 8 and 9 a.m.
The tower stands on the west side of North Olden Avenue just north of St. Joes Avenue and is visible from nearby Route 1.
It dates to 1927 and was built by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Co., Faigle said. The company is still in business today as CB&I.
Faigle said much of the work has been done on the lot. "This is the last piece of the puzzle," he said.
Jersey Precast, of Hamilton, operates a 230,000 square-foot plant nearby on Nottingham Way, just over the Hamilton border.
The tower is on a parcel commonly referred to as the Kramer property.
MORE: 5 things Trenton is focusing on to foster economic development
The Kramer company began as a body shop founded by Russian immigrant Nathan Kramer in 1914. He was later joined in the business by his brother, Israel, and together they built a commercial refrigeration equipment business, past Times of Trenton stories describe.
Their children later ran the company at the three-story brick factory until February 1990 when declining orders forced company officials to declare bankruptcy.
In September 1996, a spectacular and suspicious fire burned the factory to the ground, sending a large orange glow into the sky for hours one night.
For several years, the property has been eyed by developers, but no major projects ever materialized.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
