Old Kaiser Mead smelter site
Thousands of people drew paychecks from the sprawling Kaiser Aluminum smelter in North Spokane during its more than 50 years of operation. The California company that bought the Mead site last year is about a third of the way through a project to put people to work on the property again, this time as a new business and industrial park. Rather than renovating the several dozen dusty and dirt-caked buildings on the 170-acre property, owner New Mill Capital LLC is tearing down nearly everything and starting from scratch.
Section:Picture story
The stores anex building on the old Kaiser Mead smelter site has attracted interest from outside business.
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Tom Messner, of Industrial Realty Group, displays maps showing the conversion of the old Mead smelter into a modern industrial park, Sept. 17, 2013.
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The siding on the pot line rooms at the old Kaiser Mead smelter must be removed before the rest of the structure dismantled.
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A demolition worker sprays water to keep the dust down near a pot line room at the old Kaiser Mead smelter, Sept. 17, 2013.
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A demolition worker cuts the bolts holding the siding in a pot line room at the old Kaiser Mead smelter, Sept. 17, 2013. The dangerous siding is being removed before the rest of the structure dismantled.
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Tom Messner, of Industrial Realty Group, and site manager Ken Hoff look over the conversion of the old Mead smelter into a modern industrial park, Sept. 17, 2013.
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A demolition worker cuts the siding of dismantled silos at the old Kaiser Mead smelter, Sept. 17, 2013.
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A demolition worker glides past the fallen roof of a pot line room at the old Kaiser Mead smelter, Sept. 17, 2013.
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Demolition crews to remove a rafter from the carbon baking building, Sept. 17, 2013, at the old Kaiser Mead smelter.
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Demolition of the pot line room has left just the silos standing, Sept. 17, 2013, at the old Kaiser Mead smelter.
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Metal from the pot line rooms is sorted outsdie the old Kaiser Mead smelter, Sept. 17, 2013.
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A lone desk and chair await truck drivers doing paper work while scrap metal is loaded onto their rigs at the old Kaiser Mead smelter, Sept. 17, 2013.
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