A century after crews began construction of a condensed milk factory in Mt. Pleasant, workers are now making headway in renovating the historic Borden Building just west of downtown.

City voters approved the $7.2 million development, known as the West Broadway Revitalization Project, by nearly a two-to-one margin in the November 2005 general election.

When finished the building will house city hall and have other space for lease.

Although work remains on schedule that doesn't mean there haven't been a few surprises.

While digging trenches for the sanitary sewer, clay piping lined with asbestos was found.

That required crews to cut up the pipes and completely seal them in bags before sending them to a landfill, city Director of Parks, Buildings and Grounds Greg Baderschneider told city commissioners during a presentation at Monday night's meeting.

You're going to run into things like this on these sites, he explained. It's all out at this point but by no means am I saying That's it.'s

Some contaminated soil has also been removed and taken to a waste disposal site, while other areas will be capped with sand and concrete.

Everything has been pretty much contained on site, Baderschneider said.

That work is being paid for with a state Department of Environmental Quality grant.

Workers also discovered three more flowing wells. That's in addition to the 14 found during earlier excavation.

Some have been capped while others were tied together and allowed to flow to a retention area and into the adjacent Chippewa River to reduce water pressure.

The area where the old water tower was once located was a muddy mess, which is being excavated and filled with stone, sand and gravel before being covered with asphalt, Baderschneider told commissioners

. Inside the building developers faced a few structural issues when some walls were removed, he said.

To correct the problem, new beams have been installed and some support posts replaced or reinforced.

Interior block work is also presently taking place in the former boiler room that will eventually become the city commission meeting room, which will remain open to the second level.