I went by on Saturday to check on the demolition of the Federal Cold Storage Warehouse on North Broadway in the Near North Riverfront neighborhood. The fire at this point was now extinguished as far as I could tell and only North Broadway was closed, and will be for a several more weeks while demolition continues.
Demolition has revealed some of the structural aspects of how the building was constructed originally, such as the massive timbers in the smaller ancillary structure to the north.
The main cold storage building was constructed in the way I expected, with reinforced concrete columns, wrapped in rebar. Its demolition reminded me of the old Hunter Meat Packing Plant.
Looking up North Broadway, we can spot some of the other old factories and warehouses that are supposedly being tapped to become apartments. I honestly don’t know if that is a good idea; this area is just so desolate, and its connections to the rest of the city are just not very good.
I looked at the American Brake Company back in July of 2020.
