Construction Begins - November 2007

Well, IT'S NOT REALLY the BEGINNING of construction, but at least we're starting to put things back together. We have owned the building at 901 S. Westnedge in Kalamazoo, MI for about 5 years. It was originally designed and built by Architect, Ernest Batterson in 1924. Ernest was a prominent local Architect that designed commercial and residential structures throughout SW Michigan including Old Central (Vine Street), the church by Bronson Park (name?), Ft. Custer Military Base and Paw Paw High School. He used the building for his office and primary residence.

Throughout the years, there have been a number of businesses at the 4 addresses (901, 901 1/2, 903 and 905) in this location. Dixie Gas gas station, Ted and Millies restaurant, Fernando's Fine Mexican Foods and many more.

Here's a list of highlights that bring us to where we are now - I'll break this list down into smaller parts in posts to follow...

-Cleaned and patched the existing flat roof and limped-by until now. By "clean" I mean removed sod (yes sod), dirt and pine needles and cleared the drains.

-Prepped the south side to be rented as an apartment.

-Installed new water heater for apartment.

-Rented the south side as an apartment for approx. 3 years.

-Removed a MOUNTAIN of blow-in insulation and raised the ceilings in the studio (North) side.

-Moved furnace (south side). It's original location was smack-dab in the middle of the live recording room.

-Built a mechanical room w/ my brother to house the furnace etc...

-Rented 2 rooms as practice spaces to Slow Drag and Burning Tent Revival.

-Rented the center area to Ry Charters - Driftwood Guitar Shop for approx. 2 years.

-Converted one of the former practice spaces to an office for our Marketing/Design company.

-Opened up the center area and south-side to make room for Allyson's Photography Studio.

-Demolished 80% of the interior - removing walls and stripping to the studs. The entire building was cut-up in to a number of smaller, useless rooms that we're going to convert to several large rooms.

-Removed a 20 ft. pine tree from the courtyard. No, we're not tree-haters. The needles would fall, clog the drains, create leaks. We considered duct-taping the needles to the tree, but decided to cut it down instead. We'll plant another, smaller one in it's place, promise.

-Considered adding a second level for our residence. Realized it was going to bee too costly - unfortunately, we came to this realization after spending approx. $3,000 on architectural fees/drawings AND going through the entire site plan review w/ the City of Kalamazoo. Sure did it look neat though!

Now we have resolved to fix the existing structure and go from there... When it's finished, the 3,100 sq. ft. building will serve as our living space, Allyson's Photography Studio, the recording studio and an office for Remote Marketing Group - our Marketing/Design company.

Photos : New roof installation and miscellaneous framing and siding, November 2007.