Ceilings to 12 units to be opened at former Galion hotel

GALION – Work at the Central Hotel Apartments on the square in downtown Galion will continue as an investigation of possible structural problems at the historic building intensifies.

Michael Swemba, an asset manager at the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing in Columbus, which has Central Hotel Apartments in its portfolio, said Friday a decision has been made to open up the ceilings in 12 units at the hotel.

The apartment complex, which offers affordable housing for senior citizens, recently moved its residents to facilities elsewhere — including hotels, family members' homes and other units within the building — while the owners conduct structural investigations, Galion officials confirmed. Hotel stays, meals and transportation are being provided to the displaced tenants at no cost to them.

The Central Hotel was built in the late 1800s.

Friday, Swemba said professional movers have been hired to relocate tenants' belongings to storage units at no cost to the tenants.

"Once the units are totally empty we will remove the ceilings so we can see what needs to be done," Swemba said.

Galion Building Inspector Bob Johnston had said earlier that officials met at the site to check on "settling of the floor joists" with architectural engineers.

The building was built in 1852.

Swemba said. "We have ongoing settling concerns dating back to 2012 that we noticed as part of ongoing inspections. We then addressed what we thought were the issues in the basement. We added additional support to the structure and we thought that would take care of the issue.

"Unfortunately the settling seemingly continued. We began a new round of inspections and as part of that inspection, we were trying to be proactive and take care of the building, etc., and we identified this issue just recently, just in the past couple weeks," Swemba said.

He said representatives from ownership on Feb. 28 saw the issue firsthand. "We're coordinating this with an architect, a structural engineer as well as a contractor," he said.

In December 2002, the pieces finally came together in a plan to turn the dilapidated structure into an apartment complex. Developers received approval of $3.1 million in loans that enabled them to finally move forward on the project. Still, a planned 10-month construction timetable stretched to more than two years.

Several groups looked into restoring the old hotel, but financing could never be completed until December 2002 when G. Fred Schwab and Asebrook Ltd., secured loans of more than $3 million for the project.

The first tenants moved into the building in 2005.

Lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

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Twitter: @LWhitmir