A proposal to tear down one of Brookhaven’s first manufacturingplants for salvageable materials is progressing slowly, officialssaid.

City Attorney Joe Fernald said lawyers must clear up somepaperwork on the Stahl-Urban Manufacturing property before theproject can be advertised for contractors’ bids to tear down the65,000-square-foot facility.

“It’s clear we own the facilities, but we want to clarify somediscrepancies,” he said.

The plant, located on Main Street in the Pearlhaven community ofBrookhaven, is located on several property parcels, Fernald said.It is one of the most utilitarian pieces of property in the city’sinventory because of its size and location, and portions of it havebeen leased and sub-leased many times since Stahl-UrbanManufacturing closed down in the late 1970s.

Over time, some of that paperwork has become muddled, hesaid.

“Through that time, there were many papers changing hands. Wedecided to draw the line at 2006 and bring all that paperwork intoorder,” Fernald said.

The work largely means researching deeds and contract details,he said, and shouldn’t take too long. He expects the research to becompleted by July 15.

“We’re under some self-imposed deadlines. It should be soon,”Fernald said.

The push to clarify the property’s paperwork was provided by anAlabama businessman in January. He proposed tearing down the oldplant for its salvageable materials. In exchange, the contractorwould gravel over the lot and make it suitable for the currenttenants in warehouses on each side of the old plant.

Aldermen have since determined that the businessman who proposedthe plan would have to bid on the project along with all otherinterested parties because of the value of the materials.

An unusable electrical system, low ceilings and faulty flooringare among many reasons why the building should be torn down, saidCliff Brumfield, executive director of the Brookhaven-LincolnCounty Chamber of Commerce. A search to find a permanent tenant forthe main building has been fruitless for years.

The building proposed for demolition consists of more than65,000 square feet, much of which is covered with one-inch mapleflooring. Other salvageable materials include ceiling to floorjoists, beams and rafters.

According to an early 1980s speculative brochure, the originalmanufacturing plant was constructed in the early 1940s as a garmentfactory. The seven-acre site consists of original plant, warehousesand a 75,000-gallon water tower.

Auburn Sportswear and Kellwood Co. are among former tenants ofthe original plant after the Stahl-Urban shutdown.

Warehouses on each side of the original plant were added in1949, 1959 and 1963. The current site consists of three buildings:the main plant and a warehouse to each side.

The warehouses are currently leased. SUCO owns one of the metalwarehouses while the city retains ownership of the other metalwarehouse.