CodeBlue on the job in its future home

Water damage hits historic Bushnell Building

SPRINGFIELD — When Bushnell Building owner Jim Lagos brought national water-mitigation company CodeBlue to downtown Springfield, he had no idea he would provide the company a training ground as well.

But on Tuesday night, as the midterm election results were just beginning to pour in, Lagos got a call that a portion of the roof of the Bushnell building had collapsed, damaging the building’s sprinkler system, sending gallons of water pouring into the fifth floor and down into the basement.

Lagos is in the midst of renovating the circa-1893 historic building to house CodeBlue, which has opened a Springfield operation and plans to hire about 300 people in the next year. Roofers, who are installing a rubber roof on the building, piled material onto a non-weight-bearing section of the roof, causing the collapse.

As soon as Lagos assessed the situation, he immediately called CodeBlue for help. Within 30 minutes a CodeBlue representative was on the scene and within 24 hours a building inspector declared the building fit to allow its occupying businesses to reopen.

Lagos joked that he was only trying to drum up business for his new tenants, but then in a more serious tone said he was impressed with the results.

“They did a super job,“ he said Friday as he toured the fourth floor of the building, where the floors were dry enough to start collecting construction dust again. “I highly recommend them.”

Neither Lagos nor CodeBlue officials anticipated a water emergency in the historic building, “but that is just how it happens for anyone in that kind of situation,” CodeBlue president Paul Gross said. “So the more quickly you respond to those kinds of situations, the better you can keep costs down for you and the insurance company.”

Lagos said he could not estimate the amount of money CodeBlue saved him by minimizing damage to the building.

“I just know it is a tremendous amount,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0347 or kmori@coxohio.com.

About the Author