Revere Sugar Death Row Report: Skinned Alive

Thor Equities appears to be killing the Red Hook waterfront's preeminent landmark slowly, at least for now. This weekend, workers were hacking at the skin of the former Revere Sugar plant. They were peeling out walls, exposing entire sections and poking holes in the building. It appears that Breeze, the demolition firm that Thor has hired to conduct the execution, is working on removing the exterior before moving with heavy equipment to complete the task. Today's Daily News reports that as many as six buildings mixing residential and commerical uses, rising up to four stories, are planned for the site. (That is, if the developer wins the development fight that is sure to develop over the site. Whether bitterness over Revere's fate and the way in which Thor Equities went about destroying a neighborhood landmark fuels the debate is unclear. We did not in discussions with some people in the neighborhood this weekend a degree of anger that no discussion took place before the demolition hammer started coming down.)

We noted workers wearing breathing gear to do the job. Ironically, an indie film named Life in Flight--which is about development and architecture--was shooting across the water at the Beard Street Warehouses, and a film crew member was stationed on the Revere property to quiet the workers when scenes were being shot. Periodically, the horrendous sounds of Revere's death--hammering, banging and sawing--could be heard coming across the water. At one point, a worker wheeled out what looked like a gurney, to carry off pieces of fallen facade.