A timeline for the demolition of the parking garage is unclear. Bushnell building and garage owner Jim Lagos said that electric work needs to be completed by Ohio Edison prior to the building completely coming down.
Electric wiring currently connects the garage’s first floor to the A.B. Graham building, which houses a number of county offices.
“Nobody alive today knows why,” Lagos said. “So we have been waiting patiently. If we tore down the garage and knocked out that conduit… all the offices in that building would be without power.”
Lagos said that Ohio Edison has been working on moving the building’s electric wiring since fall of last year.
Ohio Edison spokesperson Lauren Siburkis said that crews have completed the installation of a new power feed for the A.B. Graham building. A planned outage that was scheduled earlier this week to transfer electricity to new wires and remove the old wires was canceled due to weather.
“We will continue working with all parties involved to get this work completed as quickly and safely as possible to keep the demolition project moving forward,” she said.
The parking garage, constructed in the 1960s, housed more than 300 parking spaces. Lagos purchased the garage in 1993 and said the concrete building has been costly in terms of maintenance, with millions of dollars going toward pothole repair alone.
Salt comes off tires of cars in the garage and corrodes the rebar within the building, causing concrete to “pop” over time, Lagos said.
“It was a non-stop headache to have a concrete garage,” he said.
Once demolition is complete and gravel in the space has settled, Lagos said, work will begin to create a parking lot for employees of the Bushnell building and for people who use the Bushnell Event Center. The parking lot will have entrances and exits at its North Limestone Street location.
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