By Carol South
TRAVERSE CITY -- Retiring a building is never easy but numerous area groups -- and the planet -- are benefitting from the demolition of two residential wings of West Hall.
The core of the building, centrally located on Northwestern Michigan College's main campus in Traverse City, will continue to house the campus bookstore, student services, primary food service and radio station WNMC. The 80 dorm rooms on the structure's north and south wings will be torn down over the winter break.
The college's Board of Trustees approved the demolition in November, citing the building's deterioration as well as decreased use. However, the 46-year-old dorm wings, which closed after the Spring 2008 semester, have a little life left in them before the wrecking ball looms.
Firefighters from the Traverse City Fire Department began training exercises in the building's south wing last Monday afternoon, a valuable opportunity for destructive training appreciated by the department. Throughout the week, members practiced forced entry techniques in doorways, breaching walls, the roof and floors and carried out emergency escape techniques out of second floor windows. This week, the department plans to train in the building's north wing.
"It is an invaluable opportunity and we don't get opportunities to do this that often," said Lt. Theo Weber of the Traverse City Fire Department. "This floor system in there is kind of a unique system, common to apartment buildings, deck planking, a precast concrete flooring system, and you really need to know what you're doing to breach them."
Working around the fire department training and other construction or salvage efforts is a crew from Odom's Re-Use, salvaging shower stalls and vanities. The Grawn-based company has worked with the college before, noted owner Bruce Odom, and previously salvaged furniture from prior work in West Hall dorm rooms.
This time, remaining bunk beds and other furniture have been donated to the Women's Resource Center and Salvation Army where it will be sold in respective thrift shops.
"We're happy to be working with NMC, we've probably done eight or nine buildings with them," Odom said.
A team from the SEEDS Youth Conservation Corps is helping the Odom effort. Comprised of youth ages 15-23 and based on the old Civilian Conservation Corps model, the corps fields crews for various projects in four or five counties, noted director Bill Watson.
"The asset at West Hall is that we're doing a labor intensive project and taking things that would have found their way into the waste stream and into the landfill and, working with Bruce Odom, taking these things and recycling them," he said.
The recycling effort reflects a college policy requiring contractors to keep at least 50 percent of materials from the demolition out of landfills.
"Every time we do a reconstruction project, we try to salvage as much as we can and try to minimize what we put in a landfill," said Ed Bailey, director of campus services for NMC.
Future plans for the remaining core of West Hall, which should be open in time for the spring semester beginning Jan. 11, include a student learning center.
"It's a project a long way from fruition because of our ability to raise funds right now," Bailey said.
East Hall's 120 dorm rooms will continue to serve the student population. Northwestern Michigan College is a rare community college that offers on-site housing. The dorm mainly houses students from out of the area who attend the school's culinary, maritime, nursing and aviation programs.
