Demo contractor has torn down some iconic structures in Utah, including the massive Crossroads and ZCMI Center malls in downtown Salt Lake.

by Brad Fullmer

Grant Mackay knows better than to take anything for granted.

advertisement

In 1983, after nearly two decades of working for his father’s demolition contracting firm  A.J. Mackay Company  the younger Mackay saw his father sell the company to somebody else, even though he felt like he could have taken over the reigns just fine.

“I always thought I’d inherit (the company),” Mackay says with a wry chuckle. “My mother died and he was kind of worn out and wanted out. My dad sold his business in ’83, so I started mine.”

In the nearly quarter-century since Mackay founded Salt Lake-based Grant Mackay demolition, he has firmly established his business as one of the largest demolition contractors in the Intermountain region, and the largest in Utah in terms of annual revenues, with a reputation of being able to handle virtually any type of job.

Mackay says his father’s decision to sell the company to somebody else stung at the time, but that it also served as motivation to work even harder at being successful.

“I had experience doing the work, but I didn’t have experience running a business,” he recalls. “I think I could have stepped in and helped him, but he didn’t think that. He wanted his money and I didn’t have the money to buy it.

“Sometimes I wished it had been different,” he continues, “but at the same time, it’s a neat feeling to have started from scratch. He definitely gave me the school-of-hard-knocks training.”

Mackay’s demolition firm has worked on some of the largest demo projects in the history of Utah, including the old Deseret Gym, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Geneva Steel, and the downtown Salt Lake malls (Crossroads and ZCMI Center) that will eventually make way for the massive billion-dollar-plus City Creek Center development.

Mackay says he’s always enjoyed the demolition process and the opportunity it provides to release life’s day-to-day frustrations.

“I like doing difficult jobs and trying to figure out how to bring something down it’s intriguing to my mind,” he says. “When you’re tearing something down it’s an avenue to release some of the frustrations you have, to let some of that go. Ever since we’re little we’re told not to break things. When you’re in demolition, you can break windows and tear down those things you otherwise wouldn’t be able to it’s quite fun.”

Mackay’s roots in demolition work can be traced back to A.J., who founded his company in 1947. Mackay says he was 12 years old when he started working for his dad in 1964, doing odd jobs like repairing tires and cleaning up jobsites. He soon graduated into more intensive work, like operating heavy equipment and supervising projects. One of the earlier projects he fondly recalls was the demolition of the original ZCMI building, and other adjacent structures, that were torn down to make way for Crossroads Mall and the ZCMI Center. Now, it’s almost as if he has come full-circle as he sees his company demolish those once-iconic structures in preparation for City Creek Center’s infrastructure.

“It gives you a feeling that you’re a part of the history of the valley,” Mackay says when recalling previous projects like the original ZCMI building. “You’re seeing history made and re-made. It’s fascinating. It’s neat to see the new structures go up after you’ve torn something down.”

Mackay’s firm also played a key role in the implosion of the Key Bank Tower August 18, which was handled by Controlled Demolition International (CDI). Mackay said his firm had to completely gut six floors of the tower, so when it imploded, there was space for the debris. In addition, Mackay’s firm stripped columns where CDI set its explosive charges, and also was responsible for cleaning up the mammoth amount of debris left behind by a demolished 20-story building.

“We did two months of work in two-and-a-half weeks,” Mackay says of the Key Bank Tower project. “We were working 90-hour weeks. It was quite the job to do the clean up  we had hundreds of people with shovels and trucks. We even spent the previous night with plastic and duct tape covering all air intakes in three square blocks around the site.”

The demolition of the Deseret Gym in 1996-97, torn down to clear space for the massive 1.5 billion sq. ft. LDS Church Conference Center, is another landmark project Mackay has fond memories of.

“It was the largest job at that point,” says Mackay. “It kind of launched us into a bigger arena of demolition. We had to buy a few extra pieces of machinery.”

Mackay says even though his father didn’t hand him the keys to his business, the things he learned from A.J. helped him be ultimately successful with his own firm.

“He was one of the pioneers at tearing down buildings with excavators,” Mackay says. “Most companies used track loaders and cranes and wrecking balls. We steered it more into using trackhoes. When you’re swinging a wrecking ball, it’s hard to control where the debris will go.”

Mackay currently has two sons working for him in the business, Nephi and Dylan. Mackay sees himself working well into the next decade before even considering retirement. One thing is for sure, he’ll give his sons the chance his father never gave him.

“I hope I don’t leave ‘em in the cold like my dad did me,” he laughed. “I’ve talked to them about it. It’s not like I’m going to give it away  they’re going to have to earn that right. But I wouldn’t sell it out from under them without giving them the opportunity to buy it from me first.”