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Austin's growth calls for tearing down of buildings
7/10/2008 5:00 AM
By: Crestina Chavez

A&R Demolition is responsible for tearing down the Concordia campus.  
Austin's continuous growth and re-invention means a steady line of work for one of Your Neighbors. A&R Demolition is a home-grown company that plays by the rules of gravity.

In fact, most folks who drive Interstate 35 get to keep tabs at what they do every day. You can't help but peer over the upper deck of I-35 and see the wreckage.

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Demolition

One company explains the process of destruction.



"[You] get a lot of people honking," Stephen Reveile with A&R Demolition said. "It's pretty neat watching it."

Watching as his own set of life-size Tonka trucks zoom in and snap through.

"It's been good, I've enjoyed it," Reveile said.

Reveile has been with A&R Demolition basically since it started.

"My brother and sister-in-law started it very young," Reveile said.

A family-owned Del Valle-based business with a call to conquer.

"It was kind of a family dream. They always wanted to tear buildings down," Reveile said.

That's what they do with pride.

"It's been pretty fun, too," he said.

One particular task involves the leveling of the 80-year-old Concordia University campus.

"We're tearing down Harms Hall,” Reveile said in reference to a co-ed dorm turned into a delicate game of Jenga.

Pull out the wrong steel-beam and that could spell trouble.

"We have power lines and gas lines we have to work around, so we just can't knock it down. There is a system to it," Reveile said.

Perhaps -- at a glance -- it looks like heaps of mangled, twisted up metal.

But, Reveile assures there's a method to the madness.

One that involves looking at the ruins more as gold than garbage.

"If you take to the landfill you're getting paid to dump; if you take to the metal yards, you get a little something back for taking your metal there. It's a big incentive actually," Reveile said.

Each separate pile -- from tin to I-beam -- gets prepped for processing.

"Cut it up, this guy loads it up into the trucks, and the trucks haul it out," Reveile said.

It's hauled out to recycle it or perhaps turned it into metal rebarb.

"It's a driving force now. We try to recycle everything, everything to keep from going to the landfill," Reveile said.

Reveile gets his own personal gratification in seeing A&R beat their own salvage records: "It's very rewarding."

Some items will get moved over to Concordia's new campus in Northwest Austin.

"We're saving everything we can," Reveile said.

With Austin's commitment to growth, there's endless opportunities to watch this company measure up.

The city of Austin hired A&R Demolition to do the deconstruction of the Palmer Events Center.

The company said they were able to salvage 90 percent of the building and they hope to do even better than that at the Concordia campus.



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