Aged underground tank removed from Santa Rosa’s Old Courthouse Square

A rusty old underground fuel tank pulled out of Old Courthouse Square Thursday doesn’t appear to have leaked despite having been entombed in the ground for decades.

Workers sucked about 800 gallons of black oil from the 2,500-gallon tank and power-?washed the inside to ensure it was clean before hauling it out of its hole in front of Santa Rosa’s historic Empire Building.

“At this point it does not appear to have leaked,” said Peter Dellavalle, a geologist with West Yost Associates, the engineering firm hired by the city to sample soil around the abandoned tank.

Discovered last month, the tank is one of several factors that have delayed completion of the $10 million reunification project until 2017.

The contractor who removed the tank, Bryan Musco, said it showed signs of rusting, but was made of thick steel that held up well compared to other tanks he’s seen.

Dellavalle noted the tank was constructed with large rivets and guessed it was built “before World War II.”

There were several supply lines to the tank leading to the Empire Building, said Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal.

The iconic clock-topped building was constructed in 1908, two years after the San Francisco earthquake leveled many downtown buildings.

The stately four-story building has been a bank and a college, and most recently housed the law firm of Geary, Shea, O’Donnell, Grattan & Mitchell.

Developer Hugh Futrell and partners purchased the building this year and have plans to turn it and an adjoining building into a 62-room boutique hotel.

Futrell said he knew inspectors had been in the basement looking for connections to the tank, but he has never been informed of the results of that search. He said he’s aware of a previous tank that was removed years ago but that case is closed, he said.

It’s not clear if Futrell would bear any liability if the tank is shown to have once been connected to his building.

“Whatever it is, it’ll be figured out,” Futrell said.

After the tank was emptied, Musco cut two holes in it, threaded a thick chain through the holes, and used a large backhoe to lift the vessel out.

He and employee Bill Robbins scraped the crusted dirt off, banged it with a sledge hammer, hoisted it onto a flatbed truck and planned to take it to a scrap metal yard.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@srcitybeat.