NEWS

Theater demolition going very slowly

Todd Hill
Reporter

BUCYRUS – The demolition of the old Schine’s Bucyrus Theater building in downtown Bucyrus is proceeding at a snail’s pace.

As of Monday afternoon, 90 percent of the structure was still standing, four days after South Sandusky Avenue was closed to make room for the project.

“The steel is solid — it’s not like that’s going anywhere — but the bricks and stuff are very fragile. And for the most part, it’s to protect Doug’s business, his roof, his wall,” Eunice Collene, the city’s project manager for the demolition, said of the project’s pace.

Doug Godwin is the owner of Midwest Furniture, adjacent to the south side of the theater on South Sandusky. He also lives above his store, under normal conditions, but the theater’s south wall, just inches from Godwin’s north wall, was crumbling before the demolition even began.

“They highly recommended we close and I move out, but I have to stay close by. We closed up Friday, and will probably be closed all this week,” Godwin said, and that’s hurting his business.

“But there’s nothing I can do about it. They’re doing everything they can to protect my building.”

The demolition’s contractors — Moderalli Excavating Inc. and J&J Asbestos Abatement, both from the Youngstown area — have spent most of the past several days getting the roof of the theater down to the height of Godwin’s building.

“They’ve been working on some portions of the roof itself now, cutting some of the trusses that are up there to help direct the fall and control the way the building comes down,” Collene said Monday afternoon.

“Depending on how the structure reacts to what they’re doing on the roof, they may try to take the back wall yet this evening.”

The contractors spent much of Monday laying down sand at the intersection of South Sandusky Avenue and East Warren Street.

“It’s more to protect the street from the heavy equipment. We unfortunately lost our walk/don’t walk sign down there (at Charles Street) — a semi took that out,” Collene said.

Although multiple barricades and signs have been set up since last week directing motorists to detour routes, as far out as the north and south sides of Bucyrus, the warnings have occasionally been ignored.

“I’ve had several cars. Friday night, I almost got hit,” Collene said.

She said that the city understands that some vehicles might need to travel the wrong way on some downtown alleys to get to or from a business and that there haven’t been any problems with that.

“It’s been more with people going through here, especially on bikes, I’ve had several cars blow right through the barricades. I’m not sure why they’re not seeing the signs,” Collene said.

“I had a semi just an hour ago. It’s kind of scary to me for these guys when you’ve got a semi blowing through here because it’s not like he was going extra slow or anything like that.”

As for the downtown businesses that are stuck behind the barricades, they’ve remained open and have continued to serve customers, for the most part.

“It’s summertime, which is a slower time for us. And last week was fair week, which is typically slow for us, so it hasn’t been a big change. We do a lot of our business over the phone. The walk-in traffic is not there, but this time of year, it’s not common,” said Sue Stander, owner of Norton’s Flowers, 225 S. Sandusky Ave.

“Everyone is pretty much doing the same business. The street will open just in time to close for the Bratwurst Festival (Aug. 13-15), but that’s a normal thing. The fair and the festival always take a big hit on our business.”

“I see people coming and going. Wendy’s seems to be doing fairly well. I think (Bucyrus United Methodist Church, 320 Hopley Ave.) made it through just fine on Sunday. So far, so good,” Collene said.

Meanwhile, Godwin is camping out at the Holiday Inn on the north side of town, at city expense.

“I’m catching my phone calls, and when we open back up, we’ll do what we can to get back in business. Tell people to bear with us,” he said.

“Doug’s been fabulous. He’s been so understanding,” Collene said.

Repeatedly, the city has vowed that the theater would be torn down in time for the Bratwurst Festival, and the contractors are required to have it demolished by Aug. 11, two days prior, though a big pile of fenced-off rubble could still be there by then.

“It’s not getting it down by the festival, it’s having it in a safe condition by the festival, that’s the main thing,” Collene said. “Things are changing and shifting. Signs were visible before; they’re very visible now as we go.”

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ