And they said it couldn’t be done.
The Mission Columbus demolition crews tasked with dismantling a more than century-old Arvin Industries vault, to make way for new office space for the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress (ASAP), could only smile when they were told the old structure in the former United Way of Bartholomew County offices was permanent and probably couldn’t be removed.
“We just assumed that it wouldn’t, or couldn’t come out,” said Doug Otto, the namesake of the United Way building who now serves as its caretaker.
Otto described telling the local Mission Columbus volunteers that the vault couldn’t be removed as akin to “waving a red flag at a bull.”
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“They took it as a challenge,” he said.
Dozens of Mission Columbus volunteers set themselves to the task of taking apart the 15-foot by 15-foot square brick fortress the week of April 9, donning hard hats and masks, taking the vault apart brick by brick with hammer chisels and later with sledgehammers.
Those who volunteer for Mission Columbus, a ministry of Asbury United Methodist Church, come from all walks of life — some are retirees with construction experience, some are Cummins engineers or employees with construction backgrounds and some bring years of handyman experience to the volunteer work.
More than 30 volunteers, including volunteer community crews who stepped up when Mission Columbus sought more help, worked tirelessly and with a slight glee at tackling what had been described as impossible.
It was messy, dusty, dirty work, and the crew members couldn’t have been happier as the plaster and brick hit the floor around them with a satisfying thud.
When asked on a scale of one to 10 how much fun the vault demolition project was, Mission Columbus leader Steve Ferdon, director of engineering technology for Cummins Inc.’s fuel systems business, just smiled as he removed his face mask and adjusted his safety glasses.
“Oh, this is a 15,” Ferdon said. “Because it’s audacious. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. This is the most fun we’ve had in a while.”
Mission Columbus volunteer crews are donating their time for the demolition, and also donating their time to the renovation of the former United Way space for the ASAP Hub space, which is scheduled to open late this summer. The ASAP Hub will provide referrals, services and help to those struggling to recover from addiction, with the help centralized in one near-downtown location for clients.
Newly appointed Hub manager Nathan Walsh was among the demolition crew members working the night of April 9 at the former United Way offices, which is where he’ll be working to lead the ASAP Hub when the renovation project is finished.
Almost unrecognizable in a hard hat and safety glasses, and covered in cement and brick dust, Walsh said he wanted to do as much as he could to help with the demolition — usually on Tuesday nights.
“Every time we have a crew of volunteers come in, I ask them to stop for a minute so I can explain the ASAP mission and what they are giving to the community,” he said. “I want them to see the big picture of what we are trying to do.”
Walsh, who said the extent of his construction know-how was a summer before college spent hammering some 2-by-4s together, said he was enjoying the experience of getting his hands dirty in the demolition.
After talking with Jeff Jones, ASAP executive director, the two agreed that those who volunteer needed to know more about what the Hub will eventually mean to those who need assistance to recover from addiction.
“This is bigger than just the building,” Walsh said. “We want them to know it’s going to be more than just the physical space. There is a huge need that we are attempting to fill. When you look nationwide, there are 70,000 people in the United States dying from opioid addiction every year, and some of those deaths are happening here. We want to change some lives.”
Some of the volunteers have been drawn to help with the Hub demolition and renovation project because addiction has touched their families, Ferdon said.
“We’ve had a number of volunteers coming out who are family members of people who need this place,” Ferdon said. “They say that they need to do something, but don’t know what to do — and then they say, ‘I can do this.’”
The Hub renovation is not the first reincarnation for the building. Some Columbus residents remember the 2009 Christmas Eve fire that caused extensive damage, which resulted in renovations that were completed by New Year’s Eve in 2010.
Part of the damage then was that the second floor above the Hub offices was destroyed and removed from the structure, leaving only one story there, Otto said.
The vault dates all the way back to when Arvin owned the original building, to the early 1900s, Otto believes. The building, and its vault, was donated to the United Way in 2001 — but upon receipt, the new owners found the vault did not have a lockable door, Otto said.
There was a tattered, fading sign on the inside of the vault providing instructions about how the vault doors were to be operated, according to the demolition crews.
The small note inside was addressed “To the mechanic who sets this vault door” with instructions on how to properly do this process and a warning to do it properly.
The United Way of Bartholomew County had used the vault as a storage and supply room over the years, Otto said.
Although the vault took up significant space in a large room, Otto said it would have cost the United Way a significant amount of money — probably more than it was worth — to try to get it out of the building.
The demolition has involved taking down 2-foot thick walls covered in a concrete overlay facade, and then taking out brick that dates back to the construction of the building, Ferdon said. Although some had mistakenly believed that the vault was made of some sort of steel, Ferdon quickly determined it was brick with a concrete overlay. Two brick archways and wood provided the top of the structure.
As the bricks are removed, they aren’t being thrown in a landfill — they are being pulverized and recycled to be used as fill in another project, Ferdon said. Most of the mortar is simply crumbling from age and giving way fairly easily.
On April 9, the workers were working around the double arched ceiling at the top of the vault — in the hopes that they could eventually get the top of the structure to sort of implode and fall to the middle.
After all the concrete overlay and mortar that was probably done by hand by skilled masons years ago is removed, the volunteers planned to take the rest of the vault apart brick by brick.
The space where the vault stood, smack-dab in the middle of a large room, will become a casual seating area once the room is cleared, sort of like a living room space, Ferdon said.
During the demolition, crews also covered huge oak beams in the Hub space, which are part of the original support structure of the building, and which are now being incorporated into the design for the offices, Ferdon said. The beams had been hidden under drywall, but with the demolition are now exposed, and could remain that way, he said.
“These are some elements of the past — we should show them off,” Ferdon said.
Walsh and ASAP officials have been specific in asking that the new space not feel or look like a doctor’s office, a principal’s office or a jail. The Hub space is being designed to be welcoming and not intimidating.
Walsh said the ASAP team is especially grateful to Britt Brewer, academic specialist and architecture community outreach coordinator for the J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program in Columbus, for the program’s design consultations and advice for the project.
And the Cummins employees who are making up a large number of the work groups have been enormously helpful, Walsh said.
While the afternoon crew of vault demolition workers, who are mostly members of Ferdon’s Cummins fuel systems group, doesn’t have a name, the morning crew does: Safecrackers, a tongue-in-cheek reference to when the vault could have held valuable treasure.
“We might not have a fun name, but this is fun,” Ferdon said as the Cummins Fuel Systems employees used chisel hammers to continue to chip away at the vault.
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Mission Columbus is organizing and serving as project manager for the demolition and renovation of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress Hub space in the Doug Otto Center at 1531 13th St.
Renovation of the 1,600-square-foot space is being completed mostly by volunteers, with project manager Mission Columbus organizing the work.
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Steve Ferdon, who leads Mission Columbus and is the director of engineering technology for Cummins Inc.’s fuel systems business, is always looking for volunteers to help. Ferdon could use all kinds of volunteers, including those with no experience, for the ASAP Hub demolition and renovation project. But he also is seeking skilled workers for jobs as specialized as drywall and electrical.
For now, plans call for volunteers to work on Tuesday evenings, all parts of Fridays, and Saturday mornings.
Information: [email protected].
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The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress Hub, a centralized location to find services and help for those recovering from addiction, will be located in the Doug Otto Center building, 1531 13th St., and will open its offices later this year.
Organizers said the Hub will help bridge gaps in addiction treatment, assist with social services and offer a central location for anyone seeking sobriety or information about addiction.
“The Hub will be the place where men, women and families can get the information and support they need to start and maintain their recovery journey,” said Jeff Jones, executive director for ASAP.
For more information, visit asapbc.org.
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To learn more about Mission Columbus, whose home base is Asbury United Methodist Church in Columbus, visit asburycolumbus.org/tag/mission-columbus/.
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