apoc: A Piece Of Cleveland.org
By: Chris Kious
Over the past five years, I have researched the various models of deconstruction that exist throughout the country. While doing my research, I wanted to understand what factors would make deconstruction a viable alternative to demolition in the City of Cleveland. I work for St. Clair Superior Development Corporation on the near east side of Cleveland. In my capacity, as the Housing Services Manager, I monitor over 300 properties that are boarded up or awaiting investment or demolition. It didn’t take me long to realize that deconstruction has many meanings and comes in many forms.
What is deconstruction? Deconstruction is the dismantling of buildings, or the “unbuilding” of a structure. The differences in deconstruction that occur across the country usually revolve around how much of the building is being deconstructed. Some organizations stress total recycling of a structure, while others applaud any attempt to prevent these resources from entering our landfills.
In some cities, deconstruction is a service offered to homeowners who are remodeling a kitchen or bathroom in their house. A deconstruction crew is sent out to carefully remove any items such as sinks, cabinets, flooring and fixtures. Many outfits will charge a fee, while others do this service as a way of improving their retail inventories. Deconstructing one room in a building is not recycling the entire structure, but it is making use of items that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
Then, there are examples of complete home deconstruction. In these cases the homeowner is going to replace the structure that is dismantled. This type of deconstruction is happening in cities and suburbs where local market values are climbing. Of course, it takes special types of homeowners to want their houses dismantled and donated to a non-profit. In most cases, though, the cost of deconstruction is covered by the value of the tax deduction that homeowners realize. Full deconstruction projects have been completed in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and other major cities.
Deconstructing and recycling an entire structure is a lofty goal which is why few operations achieve 100 percent success. Part of the reason is because there are some items that have no direct market or can not be reused. I have found that the organizations that deconstruct entire structures are working towards the goal of total reuse, but they still have to be selective of what they “harvest” from buildings and resell to the public.
How do we take the lessons learned from past deconstruction projects, and translate them to Cleveland, a city with more than 10,000 homes that are abandoned and vacant, and destined, once demolished, for the landfill? How can we build a business model that makes sense for our local economy? The resale value of the reclaimed materials can’t easily cover the cost difference between deconstruction and demolition. The customer (in this case the city) can’t take advantage of the tax benefits of donating materials. Finally, these houses have largely been stripped of all valuable materials, leaving mostly wood to reclaim.
In 2007, A Piece Of Cleveland (APOC) was formed to solve the decontruction issue in Cleveland. APOC transforms “trash” into “treasure.” We are urban lumberjacks, reclaiming floors, doors, molding, trim and windows. We refinish the wood by planing it down to “new” condition. The new wood is now our raw material for future rebirth. All products made by APOC come with a Re-Birth Certificate, indicating where the materials came from, who re-birthed them and instructions on caring for the product
Over a few weekends in the brisk chill of March 2007, some dedicated individuals pulled wood materials from Adelstein’s Prescriptions, a building on E. 79th and Cedar Avenue, that was slated for demolition. APOC was invited by the demolition contractor to see if there was anything worth salvaging. Of course, most of the immediate value items were already gone. We were left with the last remains of the building before it headed to the landfill.
In those spare hours of deconstructing the building, we managed to “harvest” some old poplar and oak, several doors and a few sheets of marble. The floorboards that we salvaged were ruined from years of rain and snow damage, due to holes in the roof and windows. But we knew that beneath that “ruined” top layer of wood there is likely to be some fresh, clean wood waiting to be unearthed.
A little bit of studio time later, with the necessary elbow grease and a large dose of creativity—APOC is proud to present to you the Adelstein dresser. All of the materials in this piece were salvaged from the Adelstein Pharmacy building. We not only save the wood, we save the history that comes with the wood.
In order to make deconstruction viable in Northeast Ohio, many pieces have fallen into place. First, the City of Cleveland is open to the idea of a demonstration project. Second, we are fortunate to have Cleveland’s Habitat for Humanity’s Habitat ReStore (www.clevelandrestore.org) ready to sell cabinets, appliances and other easy to sell pieces. The last piece we need is your support to help us turn the “trash” of old wood into products that will be treasured for generations to come.
For more information, call Kious at 216.502.2095 or visit APOC’s website at www.apieceofcleveland.com.