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SALT LAKE CITY -- A small crowd gathered on the sidewalk of the Market Street Grill in downtown Salt Lake City Tuesday to watch the historic progress of a historic building across the street.
The preparation for this day has been going on for some time, but Layton Construction spokesman Alan Rindlisbacher says this is the first day Oddfellows Hall has started moving horizontally. He says it's a snail's pace by our standards, but for a 5 million pound building, it's pretty fast. "How about 10 inches per hour?" he said.
The building was lifted up off its foundation and onto a complicated rig. "You put a building on wheels, you tug it with some fairly sophisticated cabling system with some powerful equipment, and the building moves," Rindlisbacher explained.
There are still months of work ahead before the building is in its final position. Rindlisbacher says it will be rotated 180 degrees, moved back to its original position, then across the street, and finally into position on its new foundation.
It's not something you see every day and that's attracted the crowd. "I'm just interested in seeing it happen," one man said. Another man, a contractor, says he can't tear himself away. "I've been watching it from day one, so it's quite interesting."
By the time the day is over, the building will have moved about 100 feet to the west.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
