Demolition of the old East Hampton Town Hall building on the Town Hall campus at 159 Pantigo Road began on Monday.
The building has been unoccupied since 2010, when the main Town Hall offices were moved into the complex built from donated 18th and 19th-century buildings. The old building, constructed in the early 1960s, was already in disrepair and left to deteriorate.
The town has been preparing for the demolition since last year. Old records stored in the basement were removed, as was asbestos in some areas of the building. Communication lines for internet, telephone, and fax that ran through the building and were connected to other buildings on the Town Hall campus have been rerouted, as have water mains. Gas and electrical service was disconnected, and a gas fuel tank and generator were removed and disposed of.
Throughout the process, the subterranean infrastructure was marked out and mapped using GPS, resulting in the first-ever complete record of locations of the utility and communication services.
The demolition is expected to take about one week, according to a release issued on Friday. The site is to be restored with clean fill, planted with grass, and may eventually serve as the site of town offices that would be consolidated onto the campus from outlying sites, although a construction project is not planned at present.
In the interim, the area may be used to accommodate one of the model initiatives being developed on the Town Hall campus in conjunction with the town’s sustainable environmental and energy-efficient practices. Additional electric vehicle charging stations are to be installed, and rooftop solar panels for several town buildings, as well as energy battery storage projects, are being planned. Other improvements to the campus could expand on the existing pollinator garden by adding native plantings or showcasing principles of natural lawn care.