LEWISBURG, Pa. — It was an event two months in the making at Riverwoods Senior Living Community near Lewisburg. The cooling tower needed to be replaced at RidgeCrest Apartment Building.
"A lot of breakdowns, a lot of issues over the years, unreliable heat, unreliable cooling. The new unit replaces that, and it is 16 times more efficient," said Ron Kemper, the director of facilities.
Kemper says the old cooling tower is 22 years old. It weighs nearly 30,000 pounds, and it will take a 400-foot crane to replace it.
Once the old tower was brought down, a new one was installed.
Some residents watched the action from their porches while others sat outside in viewing tents that Riverwoods set up.
"Everybody's been locked up for over a year, no socialization, no interaction with each other, so we wanted to make this kind of an event to let the residents come out and watch the show safely," Kemper said.
Diane Reed watched the action from outside the building.
"It's something you don't see every day," Reed said.
Reed lives inside RidgeCrest Apartment Building and is looking forward to the new cooling tower.
"The upgrading will make our air conditioning and our heating much more efficient, and I'm sure nicer for the residents," Reed said.
Officials at Riverwoods say another cooling tower will be replaced here next month, so residents will be able to see this all over again.