Frey
Cummins will provide the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp. (EDC) use of its office space while the organizations’ headquarters recover from the fallout of a recent fire.
Cummins is leasing space at 526 Washington St. to both entities for up to six months, with an option for renewal if need be. Chamber President Cindy Frey and EDC President Jason Hester have signed a joint lease and expect to move in this January.
Frey expressed gratitude for how quick Cummins was to respond to their need.
“It’s a relief to know that we will be back in an office in a daily basis,” she said. “We want to be where our members can find us.”
“The space is available, and we wanted to be a good community partner as always,” said Cummins spokesman Jon Mills.
The chamber and EDC offices sustained water and smoke damage from a fire that broke out on the 400 block of Fifth Street on Dec. 3. The cause of the blaze has been ruled “undetermined.”
While the Irwin Block Building at 422 Fifth St. was condemned by the city, it is believed that 440 Fifth St. — which housed the chamber and the EDC, along with some local businesses — was less severely impacted by the fire, though it will still take some months to fix the damage that occurred.
The chamber building has also recently been the target of vandalism, though Frey indicated that this is not the most pressing concern, in light of the other damages.
In discussing how the EDC is doing, Hester said that they’re used to remote work and were able to resume operations after the fire without too much of an interruption.
“Wish we didn’t have to go through this inconvenience, but we are very grateful for all the support that we’ve received from the local community,” he said.
The space being provided to the chamber and EDC is near the Cummins Irwin Conference Center, which is located at 500 Washington St. Both organizations have indicated that their insurance will cover costs incurred during the move, including the cost of leasing from Cummins.
“The chamber and the Indiana Economic Development Corp., and our tenants, which are the Indiana Small Business Development Center, SCORE and our Velocities staff person, Dan Nash — there’s enough room for all of us to work out of that space until we have some clarity about the future of our building,” said Frey.
The chamber also hosted about six full-time tenants in its “Fish Tank” office space prior of the fire. These businesses have had to work from home, and their space probably saw the most water damage from the night of the fire, said Frey. In light of the event, payments have been refunded and suspended.
She is unsure whether the “Fish Tank” will move with the chamber to Washington Street but said it is a possibility. She also noted that The Workshop has offered to let people use its co-working space in the interim.
As for their previous headquarters, Frey said that the Irwin Block Building will need to be demolished before restoration work can safely begin at the chamber building, especially given the precarious position of the fire wall between the two buildings.
“If for some reason it should crumble, it would be dangerous to have people in that space,” she said. “So we’re in a holding pattern until that demolition is complete.”
She’s been told that it could be three to six months before the chamber can return to its old headquarters.
“Sadly, the cleanup has not been able to start yet, because our building is not yet secure or safe to be in,” said Hester. “So until the adjacent building is demo-ed or confirmed as being safe not to fall in on our building, we can’t be in there, and our cleanup crews can’t be in there. So that’s been a little bit of the added disappointment of the last two weeks.”
