Tag Archives: Cleavland

Waste News

Demolition News – $4.5 billion to demolish Cleveland homes…

video-4-5-billion-to-demolish-clevelands-dilapidated-homes

Process could take more than 20 years, report says.

Cleveland Councilman Tony Brancatelli traveled to Washington D.C., urging leaders to dramatically increase federal funding for home demolitions.

Brancatelli issued an eight-page report to U.S. Treasury officials that indicates it could take Cleveland 22 years and $4.5 billion to take down the condemned homes that need to come down, if additional funding isn’t found.

“When you look at what it costs to board-up a home, what it costs to cut the lawns and maintain them, that’s when you see the skyrocketing costs go up,” said Brancatelli.

Brancatelli told NewsChannel5 it costs an average of $10,000 to take down a condemned home, and with the city’s current budget, it can only take down about 600 houses a year.

“We need to take down these abandoned homes more quickly, so we can save millions in tax dollars, and restore property values,” Brancatelli said. “We need to make sure this issue gets involved in both Presidential campaigns, and so far, we have not heard much about the housing debate out of either side.”

via Demolition News.

Reuse Centers

Cleveland Daily Banner – Habitat growing within Expansion to double ReStore floor space

Only three years after acquiring and remodeling the old Cinema Twin theater, Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland Inc. has poured the footings for an 8,000 square-foot expansion of its Habitat ReStore, a discount retailer whose community popularity has exceeded original expectations.

Once completed, the project will double the ReStore’s available retail and processing space.

Since moving into the remodeled theater, the ReStore’s client base has exploded. It not only attracts shoppers of all incomes, but it has also has become a stopping point for antique dealers, “treasure hunters,” developers, builders and remodelers, among others.

via Cleveland Daily Banner – Habitat growing within Expansion to double ReStore floor space.

Deconstruction, Reuse Design

Repurposing, Selling a Piece of Lakewood’s History – Lakewood, OH Patch

Looking to hold a memory from the demolished St. Paul Lutheran Church?

For $22, you could also open a beer with it.

Last year, Reclaimed Cleveland — a company specializing in repurposing wood from historic structures — salvaged materials from the demolition sites of the St. Paul Lutheran Church as well as the building that housed the Westwood Dry Cleaners.

The property is now the site of the new CVS Pharmacy.

Some of the salvaged wood can be found in items for sale at Green Smart Gifts on Detroit Avenue.

They include bottle openers made from the wood of the church’s floor joists and mirrors made from the wood in the Westwood Dry Cleaners.

Each item is stamped with a marker of where the lumber came from.

Aaron Gogolin, who attended the school at the church nearly 30 years ago, has made a successful career out of repurposing wood from demolished structures.

“I grew up on Westwood, so it was sad knowing the church and the school were not going to be there,” he said. “I am happy to see that the congregation was able to sell the property. But it’s sad to see part of my childhood gone.”

Donna Witmer, the co-owner of Green Smart Gifts, said that in order for items to be sold at her store, they need to be locally made, organic, non-toxic, fairly traded, recycled or a tool of change.

“Aaron’s stuff fits every category,” she said. “This is good for the giver, good for the receiver and good for everyone.”

Gogolin, who started out his career building new homes, said there’s too much waste in new development.

His company typically builds chairs and tables out of repurposed lumber, but he says this project was special.

“We’re trying to save some of this lumber that otherwise would just thrown into a landfill,” he said.

via Repurposing, Selling a Piece of Lakewood’s History – Lakewood, OH Patch.