Lime plant leaving

HURON — People can expect a longtime fixture in Huron, spanning across the city's skyline for decades, to come crumbling down soon. Officials recently learned Carmeuse, a global manufacturer of lime and limestone, intends to leave its Meeker Street site bordering the Huron River not far from Nickel Plate Beach. Carmeuse — which provides lime, limestone and mineral-based items; offers freight and logistics support; and operates lime-handling systems — stopped manufacturing its products from Huron sometime last year, thus leaving this site basically vacant, city officials said. Locally, the lime plant's roots date back to around 1967 following a coal dock closure, according to the Huron Historical Society. For many years, it was known as Huron Lime Co. before Carmeuse acquired it a few years ago. Many locals refer to the lime plant as a "cloud maker" for producing similar shapes floating above its facility. "The plant converted shiploads of limestone into hydrated lime for steelmaking," according to a society statement. "The first ship, the Joseph Young, arrived Aug. 23, 1977. It was bought by Carmeuse Lime and Stone in 2018 and closed shortly after." Fast-forward to today, and Carmeuse informed Norfolk Southern it would not renew a lease agreement up in late April. The railroad company owns this waterfront land, totaling about 20 acres. Carmeuse regularly donated back to the Huron community, supporting many charitable causes and raising money for area food banks. Tearing down the site So what'll happen to the structure? "Prior to exiting the site, Carmeuse is to clear the site and grade the property," city service director Stuart Hamilton said. "We do not know the specifications." Hamilton did confirm how Clyde-based Great Lakes Demolition received a contract to pursue demolition and implosion activities. "Demolition has already started on the accessory structures," Hamilton said. "Utilities have been shut off to the site. Great Lakes will bring in a demolition company from the East Coast to carry out the implosion." While somewhat similar, this implosion differs from what happened at the former and nearby ConAgra site in 2012. Back then, the one-time grain mill's silos came crashing down. "There will not be a large explosion like ConAgra," Hamilton said. "They will be cutting charges that will weaken the structure to allow it to fall. There will still be an exclusion zone for the implosion, which, at minimum, will be the full site and Nickel Plate Beach. We expect a partial river closure, but this is not verified yet" Hamilton noted he should receive a firmer implosion date once some utility-related issues get resolved. Once the implosion occurs, this land will revert to Norfolk Southern. It's not known what could become of this site.