The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Building renovation progressing
Mercy Foundation building ‘halfway’ done with target of early July for completion
Construction for a Mercy Health Foundation of Lorain County building continues at a good pace at an old “Citizens Home and Savings” building, 360 Cleveland St. in Amherst.
“We are about halfway complete with the whole project,” said Michael Vincent, manager of the project who works for Chris Russo, the owner of the building. “We will be starting the drywall process next Monday (June 17). We don’t have an exact date of completion, but we are shooting for early July.”
Vincent said the project turned into quite an undertaking.
“It was a complete renovation,” he said. “We had to strip the walls down, and we literally had to bust up the vault piece by piece.
“Using skid steers and a breaker, we were able to get it out. During the process of getting the vault out, we broke two skid steers and one excavator. We also removed the restrooms from the basement and will have them on the first floor.
“We also raised the ceiling up. It was at around 14 feet, and we blew it up to the top; it’s now 20-feet tall. It allowed us to add a second floor, adding an additional 1,000 square feet, for a meeting room.”
Vincent said despite all the interior changes, the outside will remain relatively unchanged.
“We will keep the outside looking pretty much the same,” he said. “We just did some touch ups, but the large column in the front and the words that are engraved on the roof will remain.
“The outside windows and doors are staying.”
Vincent said there was a mural inside the building that had a depiction of early downtown Amherst, but it could not be saved.
“It was something we tried to preserve, but it was literally part of the wall and could not be preserved,” he said. “It had to be removed in order to get at the safe; if we could have saved it, we would have.”
Vincent said new utilities have been installed.
“There’s new electric, plumbing and room for a new air conditioning unit on the roof,” he said. “We also made changes such as closing up an old ATM door and making the area an employee entrance, repaving and lining the parking lot and working on the landscaping.
“It has certainly been a project, but it will look great when it’s done.”
Scott Pember, president of the Mercy Health Foundation of Lorain County, said the group having its own building will raise awareness to its causes.
“Having our offices in the middle of a hospital, people don’t necessarily know where you’re at,” Pember said. “The idea was then to get our own spot and find a landmark building with our own signage.
“It provides that exposure that lets people know we are here and that we help the hospital. In the past, we have provided the funds for
a new MRI a few years ago, we reached an agreement with the Bitar family to sell the area for the new building (Bitar Medical Center) on Oak Point Road, and we got the funds for the new Beard Family Birthing Center.
“It puts more of a spotlight on us as a foundation and what we do for the hospital.”
Pember said the building also will be a real centerpiece for Amherst.
“Chris Russo (the owner of the building) has been great through the process, and the process working with the city of Amherst has gone real smoothly,” he said. “It has been sitting empty for basically a decade, so it brings back a great building into operation.
“It also makes it easy because I tell people that we are in the old Amherst bank building, so it’s well known by folks in the community.”