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InterFirst Two Renovation: The Rest of the Story

By D Magazine |

Recently The Prudential Realty Group, the real estate investment company that owns the InterFirst Two building downtown, proudly announced a $40-million-plus renovation and new name (Renaissance Tower) for the twelve-year-old skyscraper. The company apparently forgot to announce one very expensive segment of its program-the removal of “friable asbestos.” a highly toxic, cancer-causing material discovered in the fifty-six-story building during a test conducted by the Dallas-based regional Environmental Protection Agency office in 1984.

EPA spokesman Roger Meacham says the building’s management company, LaSalle Partners Inc.. has voluntarily begun a three-year program to remove friable asbestos material from all floors of the building. “In June 1984, we conducted tests of all the public buildings in Dallas where our people work,” says Meacham. (The EPA occupies several floors of Renaissance Tower.) “In InterFirst Two we found friable asbestos material, primarily behind ceiling tiles on building support beams. While it’s not something we’d classify as an immediate health threat, it is a situation that the building’s owners felt should be taken care of for the long term.”

Friable asbestos is damaged or exposed asbestos that is easily crumbled or pulverized when touched. When the crumbled material is disturbed, it releases minute fiber particles into the air. Although it’s not dangerous to touch the material, the particles can scar lung tissue, eventually causing a form of cancer called mesothelioma.

Meacham says the EPA only has the authority to require the removal of asbestos from public school buildings. EPA officials studied the problem of asbestos in public buildings nationwide in early 1984. but decided not to expand its regulatory authority to include public buildings, primarily because of budgetary constraints.

Asbestos removal is an “extremely expensive” process, says Meacham. He says officials with LaSalle have chosen to remove all the toxic material, the most thorough and expensive of three processes approved by the federal agency to eradicate asbestos problems. Workers must first seal off an entire floor of the building and lower the air pressure through the use of exhaust fans, equipped with special filters to capture any asbestos particles that might be released. The asbestos is then scraped off the beams with wire brushes after it has been wetted with a special solution called “amended water.” The waste is then bagged and disposed of at approved EPA dump sites. The beams are sprayed with a sealant in the event that any asbestos remains on the structure.

Don Wise, assistant manager of Renaissance Tower, says removal of the asbestos “reflects a long-term commitment of the owner.” Wise says the air monitoring survey taken inside the building shows the air is not dangerous. “But in the long term it’s better just to get rid of the stuff,” he says.

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