New Centre Drive Eastern Carolina Veterinary Medical Center building set to be demolished after explosion
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Eastern Carolina Veterinary Medical Center says the building will be demolished after exploding in August.
An impaired driver, Jason Lee Beach, 46, allegedly struck the gas lines, causing a gas leak, and ran.
The 32,000 square foot facility bringing new specialties to Wilmington was set to open on September 15th.
Three construction crew members made it out of the building but members of the Wilmington Fire Department were inside and five were injured.
SouthCon, the contractor that worked on the medical facility will be onsite again starting December 9th to demolish the building. According to the contractor, demolition will take thirty to forty-five days to complete.
Gary Walker, Eastern Carolina Veterinary Medical Center Administrator says the demolition, while a physical step in moving forward, it is an emotional and psychological step for our team moving forward as well. “The explosion was like a punch in the gut,” Walker said, “Our staff was so excited to move to the new facility as they anticipated being able to elevate our veterinary services to Wilmington and the surrounding communities, so seeing this next step, keeps our vision alive.”
Once the demolition is complete, construction should soon follow as permit applications are already in place for rebuilding the hospital.
Walker says that some of the new lines of services that were to begin after they moved to New Centre Drive, are either in place or will soon be in place, “Our Neurology Department began providing services in October, and our Oncology Department will begin next month in January.” Permitting has slowed the process of getting the MRI moved from New Centre to Greenville Avenue, however Walker indicated that they are very close to getting the approvals they need.
Medical Oncology will begin in January at Eastern Carolina Veterinary Medical Center and a Criticalist will be joining their team in the summer.
Walker adds that the plan is to still rebuild the hospital as it was designed with some small adjustments including adding safety measures around the natural gas lines.
