Some unhappy with downtown demolition

The old police station was built in 1945 as part of the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. This year, it made the list of the Historic Wilmington Foundation’s most endangered places.

Foundation Vice President Kevin O’Grady said the city is losing an irreplaceable asset as the building is knocked to the ground piece by piece. The new CFCC building is financed by the 2008 bond referendum, and O’Grady said before that money was approved, the foundation was told the building would be saved.

“Now the building is gone and we’re very concerned about that and why those plans changed. It was possible to save it. It could have been incorporated, but instead it’s gone,” said O’Grady.

CFCC spokesperson David Hardin said, “What we found with the study with the engineers and the architects, they recommended we not use the building because it would be incredibly expensive to get it up to any type of usable shape.”

Hardin said there was originally a plan to save at least part of the building, before learning it would cost more to renovate than demolish.

The new Union Station Building is scheduled to open in 2012. Its design was inspired by the Passenger Station Building that once stood nearby.