THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070342
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
The original Planters Peanuts factory, a living giant , will succumb to a ton of dynamite Saturday to make way for a parking lot.
The implosion, expected to take just seven seconds, is scheduled for 7 a.m.
Controlled Demolition Inc., the Baltimore-based company that leveled what was left of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, will oversee the demolition.
``Last August we moved into a state-of-the-art facility,'' Planters spokeswoman Elizabeth Faullin said. ``While there's some nostalgia with the old plant, the new facility will help increase efficiency of producing nuts.''
The eight-story Johnson Avenue plant has stood as an icon of Suffolk's history for 82 years.
Seven years after they founded the company, Italian immigrants Amedeo Obici and Mario Peruzzi moved their operation from Pennsylvania to Suffolk in 1913. Over the years, the processing plant expanded three times, at one time making it the biggest employer in Suffolk and the largest peanut-processing center in the world. The new plant processes an estimated 1 million pounds of nuts a day, the company says, and employs 450 people, making it Suffolk's second-largest employer.
In 1988, the relationship between Planters and Suffolk was strained when the company, now an operating unit of RJR Nabisco Inc., threatened to close the plant. A deal was struck - Planters donated 150 acres of suburban land to the city, and the city agreed to pay $3 million for demolition costs for the old plant. Suffolk also agreed to build a company parking lot on the site.
``It was an enticement for us to get that land,'' city Finance Director Lee Acors said. ``It was an enticement for Planters to get the financing.'' The city intends to turn the 150 acres into an industrial park eventually.
Planters will lease the parking lot - the site where the old plant stood - for 20 years. The city expects to pay between $800,000 and $1.5 million to build the lot, Acors said. Lease details, including cost, aren't yet final, he said.
Although the old Johnson Avenue plant will be reduced to rubble Saturday, some of it will survive the detonation. About 600 bricks were removed over the last year and sold, for $10 each, as a fund raiser for the local United Way campaign.
Across the street from the old brick plant stands the new $35 million, two-story,220,000-square-foot facility, sleek in its modern architecture. The new plant will keep the famous dapper, top-hatted Mr. Peanut figures atop new fence posts.
But new posts for Mr. Peanut and a new company parking lot won't erase the memories long-time employees have of the old Johnson Avenue plant.
Henry ``Biscuit'' Harris, 45, is the third generation of his family to work at Planters. His grandfather worked there 25 years, his mother 25 years, and now Harris has worked at Planters for 27 years.
At 18, Harris came to work at the plant for the summer, but it became a full-time career. He is now a mechanical coordinator who oversees how the nuts are packaged.
``I have mixed emotions. I hate to see it destroyed, but things change,'' Harris said. ``We weren't utilizing a third of that plant. To stay competitive with other companies, you have to move on.''
But computers and state-of-the-art equipment don't erase sentiment.
Juanita Johnson, 49, began at Planters 24 years ago and is responsible for overseeing the exotic concoction of blended nuts such as Caribbean Crunch. She routinely used Planters as a landmark in helping visitors find her house.
``What am I going to tell them now, with just a railroad there?'' she asked.
And Johnson hasn't decided if she'll go watch the implosion Saturday because it may be ``too emotional'' for her.
Another co-worker, Thelma Glover, 57, has worked at Planters for 38 years. She is now a quality control auditor responsible for making sure the nuts aren't too salty and have the required amount of oxygen.
``It's a sad feeling,'' said Glover, who began working there at 18.
``It's just like home. It was where I started my work.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MICHAEL KESTNER/Staff
Henry Harris (left to right), Juanita Johnson and Thelma Glover
stand outside the Planters Peanut Factory where they have worked for
27, 24, and 38 years, respectively. The plant, a Suffolk landmark
for 82 years, will be demolished with more than 20,000 pounds of
dynamite Saturday to build a company parking lot.
by CNB