Sonic restaurant moved one foot-long hot dog closer to its new location on Northeast Stephens Street Thursday as an excavation crew razed the old Vanilla Gorilla and Enterprise Rent-A-Car buildings.

The demolition, which should end early today, is the first phase of activity for incoming businesses like Sonic and Walgreens, which is destined to fill the Hunt’s Chain Saw and Repair location at the corner of Northeast Stephens and Garden Valley Boulevard.

The drive-in restaurant Sonic, where carhops on roller skates serve up tater tots and cherry limeades, received a demolition permit from the city of Roseburg in October to remove the rental buildings, which included 10 small apartments in the back. But the demolition was put on hold while Enterprise Rent-A-Car found a new location.

“It’s been a slow process,” said Clint Griffith, on-site superintendent for Beckley Excavation & Utility Inc.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car moved to 150 N.E. Garden Valley Blvd., behind Taco Bell, on Tuesday.

“They didn’t wait long, did they,” said Walt Romas, a manager’s assistant at Enterprise.

Enterprise’s long search for a new location had to take into account accommodations such as parking, Romas added.

The Vanilla Gorilla and the Service Center Locksmith, also located at the Northeast Stephens Street location, moved to Walnut Street in October. Hunt’s is moving the clothing division of its business to 1048 W. Harvard Ave. Gary Hunt will work on a contract basis as a Husqvarna professional chain saw mechanic out of Diamond Power Equipment in Wilbur, while Syl Hunt plans to retire.

By noon Thursday, two Cat excavators had reduced the former Vanilla Gorilla building to rubble, and nearly a quarter of the Enterprise building — including several apartments behind it — was torn down.

“It’s the fun part of construction,” Griffith said with a grin.

An operator in a small, front-end scoop-loader moved water heaters and pieces of scrap metal to a makeshift pile on the side of the site. The material will be moved to McGovern Metals Company Inc. in Green, Griffith said.

But the bulk of the material — boards, plywood, concrete blocks, doors, toilets, insulation and plumbing — is going to the Douglas County landfill at $60 per ton.

“It’s expensive now,” Griffith said, adding it’s difficult to figure out how much tonnage of rubble the site would yield.

An abatement team removed asbestos from the site before the excavation crew got under way, Griffith said.

Asphalt from the site will be taken to Beckley and crushed for aggregate.

A white building at the site with aqua-blue trim and red corrugated roofing — the old location of Fast Check — will temporarily remain until the excavation work and preliminary on-site work is completed, Griffith said. Then it will be demolished.

Fast Check merged with Check Cash Northwest at 741 N.E. Stephens St.

Beckley Excavation & Utility Inc. will grade and pave Sonic’s foundation, and also install underground utilities, “just as soon as the buildings are out of the way,” Griffith said.



• You can reach reporter Adam Pearson at 957-4213 or by e-mail at apearson@newsreview.info.