Deconstruction Management Blog

(reposted from Cleveland Plain Dealer article, 7/10/10 by Kaye Spector)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The four-story, 44,000-square-foot retreat house on the former St. Joseph Christian Life Center property soon will be no more. But parts of it will live on.

"Deconstruction" of the building, now owned by its neighbor Hospice of the Western Reserve, begins today. Building materials from the 1927 structure will be reused, resold or recycled.

Some of the reused materials will stay right on the 12-acre property, which the hospice purchased last year from the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

More than 10,000 cubic feet of brick will be salvaged, with some of it to be crushed for use as a base for path pavers or use in the hospice gardens along the lake, said David Simpson, the hospice’s chief executive.

Other bricks will be saved for fundraising — sold to people who share a history with the property, he said.

"I’d like to make a connection to some of those people," Simpson said. "A lot of those people are sad to see the building go down. They wouldn’t if they knew the condition of the buildings."

Marble bathroom dividers, vanity mirrors, wrought-iron doors and rails, lighting fixtures and wood casings all will get a second life through the deconstruction.

The nonprofit agency decided to tear down the building after a study showed it would cost $11 million to renovate it.

The building had structural problems, a leaking roof, extensive water damage, black mold, asbestos, an antiquated electrical system and internal and external vandalism. It had been unoccupied since 2007, when the diocese closed the retreat.

Hospice officials met several times with neighbors to talk about the property’s future.

"The building was in deep trouble," Ward 11 Councilman Mike Polensek said. "We came to the conclusion that there was no other choice."

After the building is demolished, the site will become a green space that community members, patients from the neighboring Hospice House and their families can use for reflection and healing, Simpson said.

The hospice plans to expand its memorial Vista Walk and gardens to connect the two properties.

A carriage house and former priest house will remain; no plans have been made for these buildings.

Historical markers are planned to recognize the history of the property, which was used as a sanitarium, hospital, Catholic Youth Organization headquarters and orphanage before becoming the St. Joseph Christian Life Center.

Those who want to share their stories and photos about the site can do so on the hospice’s website, hospicewr.org/clc.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: kspector@plaind.com, 216-999-3904

On Thursday, October 22nd, NAIOP’s Northern Ohio Chapter conducted a seminar entitled “Real Life Green Building; Learn How Going Green Can Save You Money” at Developers Diversified Realty’s recently completed building on Richmond Road in Beachwood. The well-organized event offered tours of the completed, four story space and a lively discussion with nationally-recognized panelists including: Thomas Bisacquino, President & CEO, NAIOP (Washington, DC), Michael Berning, PE, LEED-AP, Principal, Heapy Engineering (Cincinnati, OH), Holly Childs, Executive Driector, Green Building Alliance (Pittsburgh, PA) and Robert Reichenberger, Managing Director of Utility and REIT Programs, Sun Edison (Denver, CO).

Each panelist provided insight into their unique experiences within the green building marketplace. Mr. Bisacquino explained in no uncertain terms that green building is definitely here to stay. “This is no passing fad,” said the national President. “The longer it takes you to understand the terms, concepts and technologies associated with high performance building, the more likely you will be in building yourself into obsolescence.” NAIOP, now called the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, advocates on behalf of its members including developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial and mixed-use real estate.

Mr. Reichenberger is the Sun Edison Managing Director of Utility Sales & of the REIT Landlord GreenRoof Solar program. As managing director, he is responsible for all of Sun Edison’s business activity, business relationships and offerings to REIT’s, landlords and utility customers. Sun Edison is preparing a major push into Ohio as state legislative efforts encouraging and mandating the use of energy from renewable sources will force coal-based utility providers to either invest in large scale solar/wind/biomass/geothermal generators or buy renewable energy from companies like Sun Edison. The new laws create the opportunity for Public-Private Arrangements or Power Purchase Agreements that open the doors for solar installers to generate revenue from different sources. In this arrangement, the solar installers will own and install a PV (photovoltaic) array on the roof of a building they do not own. They will lease the roof space from the owner at a fixed rate over the course of the contract. The solar company will sell power generated from the array to the building owner also at a fixed rate for the life of the contract. The solar company will also sell renewable energy certificates to the public utilities and take the renewable energy tax credit (equal to 30% of the array’s hard costs). Not a bad deal, right? DDR thinks so and back in January contracted with Sun Edison to begin the installation of solar on all of their rooftops for all of their properties. That’s over 200 shopping centers and over 30 million square feet. Not bad.

Mr. Berning has been involved in “green” building since before it was as cool as it is today. Heapy Engineering has been involved in over 125 LEED registered and certified projects. That’s more than have been registered in all of the state of Kentucky. Mr. Berning serves as the Director of Sustainable Design for Heapy and is directly involved in the training of the largest staff of LEED Accredited Professionals in the state of Ohio. As co-chair of the Dayton Regional Green Task Force, Mr. Berning’s experience with sustainable design projects in both the public and the private sectors will show, when properly planned and executed throughout the entire design and construction process, that every project can be environmentally responsible, energy efficient AND cost effective. Several of the firm’s recent accomplishments in both the public and private sector identified the actual, realized cost savings of certain design elements. For example, on-site storm water management resulted in the elimination of significant storm drain infrastrutcure, saving over $250,000 from the initial plan.

Ms. Childs represents Pittsburgh’s Green Building Alliance, an organization that began the same year as the US Green Building Council. Though still an affiliate and not an official chapter, the real estate and developement community in Pittsburgh and throughout western Pennsylvania has embraced high performance green building. Supported by a generous philanthropic community and an active membership, the Pittsburgh GBA conducts educational sessions on green building, hosts regional networking sessions, funds the development of innovative green building products, offers research services and technical support for green building projects and advocates for the economic benefits of green building. GBA championed Pittsburgh’s new city ordinance requiring all publicly (TIF) financed development to achieve LEED-Silver certification by the US Green Building Council.

Tom West, Senior VP with CRESCO Real Estate and board member of the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the USGBC moderated a lively Q&A session where audience members asked the panelists about the future of green building, perceived vs. actual costs, public policy initiatives and best practices within this emerging sector of the real estate development industry. The evening’s attendees were lively and optimistic for the future of their industry as Ohio takes a leadership role in the advancement of green and sustainable high performance building.

These are the slides from a presentation that I created addressing the importance, marketability and risks of green, sustainable, high performance building.  Please contact me directly to learn more at www.deconmanagement.com.