Home > King In the News > Cincinnati Post Article

Cincinnati Post
July 31, 1998

Wrecker Takes on Herculean Task
Tear-down all in a day's work

By Nick Miller

If you think it sounds like nothing but fun to operate heavy machines and rip down gigantic structures with the swing of a wrecking ball, Rubin Slovin is just the guy to serve you a reality sandwich. The president of Cincinnati-based King Wrecking Co. will tell you demolition can be tough, tedious work with tight deadlines and aggressive competitors.

Consider one of King's latest projects. The company is closing in on completion of one of its largest jobs to date, clearing the path for the new $400 million-plus Bengals stadium on Cincinnati's riverfront. The job will bring in about $1.8 million for King.

"This is a very competitive business," Slovin said. "Even on a job like this there was probably no more than than $20,000 difference between us and the next lowest bidder."

The complex project called for removing about 15 structures from the site, including the sprawling Cincinnati Commercial Warehouse. That building alone included seven stories and almost 1 million square feet. "It's probably the biggest building we've worked on and the biggest anyone has worked on in this area," Slovin said as he shuffled through papers in his Queensgate office.

The riverfront demolition project began in February and is to be completed in August. In addition to the sheer scale of the project, the warehouse demolition was made especially challenging because part of the structure was up against the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.

Challenging or not, Slovin said the job will come in on time.

And he has the experience to know.

Since co-founding King in 1956, he's taken down all kinds of buildings, towers and other structures — including prime Cincinnati landmarks like Crosley Field and many of the grand old theaters that once graced downtown.

His company also has been part of some of the area's noteworthy rehab projects, like gutting the old Baldwin Piano building before it was renovated into office space.

At any time, King is working on at least a half dozen projects scattered throughout a 150-mile radius of Cincinnati.

Much has changed since Slovin got into demolition work 42 years ago. Back then, the work was labor-intensive as crews dismantled buildings by hand to recover as much salvageable material as possible, Slovin said. At one time, King operated three retail salvage yards to sell off the bounty from its demolition projects. But the time and costs of materials transport and labor made hand demolition and retail salvage too expensive to continue.

Today, King's retail yards are gone.

And except for detail-oriented interior demolition used in rehab projects, most demolition relies on heavy equipment — and getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.