The plan originally was to start demolition in October. However, electric work that needed to be completed by Ohio Edison prior to the building completely coming down delayed the process.
Electric wiring connected the garage’s first floor to the A.B. Graham building, which houses a number of county offices. In order for the demolition of the Bushnell parking garage to be complete, work was done in terms of the installation of a new power feed for the A.B. Graham building as well as a planned outage to transfer electricity to new wires and remove the old wires.
With the demolition process moving forward, more than half of the building has been torn down and the rest of that work is slated to continue into the spring, said Lagos.
Lagos has owned the garage since 1993 and cited aging infrastructure and costly maintenance as a major factor in the decision to demolish the structure and turn it into a parking lot as well as add green space as part of the project.
The concrete parking garage was constructed in the 1960s and housed more than 300 parking spaces. In terms of maintenance, Lagos said that it has been costly over the years, with millions of dollars going towards pothole repairs alone.
That work is the result of salt coming off the tires of cars in the garage, which corrodes the rebar within the building and causes the concrete to “pop” over time.
Following the demolition process, the idea is to create a parking lot that will be used by both employees of the Bushnell building as well as those attending the Bushnell Event Center.
Lagos said that he is still factoring in costs for both the demolition of the parking garage as well as the creation of the new parking lot.
He said that the parking lot will have a single entrance and exit on North Limestone Street and noted that it will be more accessible for both employees and guests of the Bushnell building as well as the event center.
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