Asbestos and lead will be removed from the crumbling sea-green walls of Avtex’s office building before it is remodeled, and from other buildings before they are razed, officials said.

About 2.5 million square feet of office space will be cleaned of the toxic materials, and several structure demolished under a special package of funding from Congress, the Department of Defense and Housing and Urban Development.

The total job, involving chemical removal and demolition at the 550-acre site, is estimate to cost $17 million. Of that, $5 million has been secured. The job will be done with federal funding and manpower supplied by contractors from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Norfolk.

The portion involving asbestos and lead paint removal is estimated to cost $75,000.

Stephen Heavener, executive director of the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority, will serve as project manager for the lead and asbestos abatement and demolition, under the contractual memorandum of agreement between the EDA and the U. S. Department of the Army on Jan 14. The agreement was ratified by the EDA board.

In the funding arrangement, the EDA needs $12 million to do the entire project. About $5 million was appropriated through a Department of Defense bill by Congress through the efforts of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA-10th) and Sen. John Warner (R-VA), Heavener said. Additionally, they secured $1 million from HUD.

Congress has authorized another $6 million toward the project but it won’t be money in the bag until it’s actually appropriated.

"There’s a lot of political lobbying that needs to take place each year," Heavener said. "Of the funding that’s been secured so far, he said, We hope to use up all that money this fiscal year."

The asbestos and lead removal should be quickly accomplished in the office building in March, he said.

Other buildings need to be freed of asbestos and lead before they are demolished. They include warehousing and manufacturing buildings, and a power plant at Avtex, Heavener said.

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