After several decades of discussions and plans and two years of extensive administrative work, the nearly $2 million restoration of the historic Weehawken Water Tower has officially begun.
Crews have begun the painstaking task of cleaning up the interior of the 113-year-old fixture along Park Avenue by removing the hundreds of pigeons that have used the tower as a safe haven for decades.
Their feces have been hauled away as well.
Wearing hazardous material removal gear, workers managed to meticulously remove 6,750 pounds of pigeon dung from the tower.
“The droppings have to be treated as hazardous materials, so it has to be carefully removed,” said Alane Finnerty, the director of the Water Tower Preservation Committee. “And they had to work through three floors. They shoveled the waste and removed it in 50-pound sealed bags. It was not an easy task at all, because the floors are not steady. They were literally inching their way along.”
Another set of construction crews has installed internal and exterior scaffolding to secure both sides of the tower, which attained historical landmark status some 20 years ago but never received the necessary repairs to maintain it.
According to Finnerty, the initial work is the culmination of diligence by a group of very dedicated people. “It’s been two years of pushing papers and making plans,” Finnerty said. “Now, we’re getting to see some of the work being done and it’s very exciting. When you see the physical work actually taking place, it gives you more energy and makes you want to keep going.”
Town officials hope to rent the former tower to private businesses.
The work is being done thanks to a $900,000 low-interest loan from the Hudson County Improvement Authority. The committee also plans to apply for an additional $750,000 from the State Historical Preservation Office later this month.
The Bird Doctor, a company in Paramus, was chosen for the gruesome job of cleaning the tower. The company has done bird and waste removal in such prestigious places as Yankee Stadium and Trump Plaza.
The next group to move in was JTG Scaffolding of Linden, who erected the scaffolding both inside and outside the monument. The scaffolding is needed so workers can take away damaged floors, which have deteriorated due to the aforementioned gifts left by pigeons, as well as for the brick fa