May 20—BUNKER HILL — The first air traffic control tower built in 1942 at Grissom Air Reserve Base is set to be demolished after Miami County commissioners approved a bid for the project.

Ohio-based Advanced Demolition Services won the contract with a bid of $123,700. The total cost of the project will be around $200,000. A grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs will pay 90% of the total cost, and the county will foot 10% of the bill.

Jim Tidd, executive director of the Miami County Economic Development Authority, said the demolition comes as windy weather recently caused part of the building to collapse. The tower has become derelict after sitting unused for over 30 years.

Debris has also blown off the building and landed on the airstrip taxi way inside the base. That's forced both military and county officials to quickly clean up the debris before it is sucked into the engine of a military or civilian airplane.

Tidd said crews will begin removing asbestos sometime in June, but when exactly the demolition will start is up in the air since the company needs to complete other demolition projects before starting on the tower.

He said crews will also have to build a temporary fence around the building where it faces the taxiway, since the structure is part of the security barrier around the runway. A permanent fence will be built once the tower is down.

The county first applied for state funding to demolish the structure three years ago, but the project was put on hold after OCRA suspended its blight elimination program during the pandemic.

The demolition will mark the end of the 80-year-old tower, which was built when Grissom was constructed during World War II as a U.S. Navy installation.

It served as the main air traffic control tower for decades. Over the years, the structure also housed base operations, a weather detachment and administrative offices.

The tower stopped being used around 1991, just before Grissom realigned as an Air Force Reserve Base, which shed more than 800 acres from the installation.

After that, the building, along with dozens of other former military structures, were turned over to the county to be redeveloped as commercial properties.

But that never happened with the air tower. Tidd said that over the years, investors showed interest in developing the building into a World War II museum or a restaurant and hotel for aviators, but the projects never had the capital to get started.

Instead, the tower and buildings attached sat vacant, unused and eventually fell into disrepair.

Carson Gerber can be reached at 765-854-6739, carson.gerber@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter @carsongerber1.