By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Last June a torrential downpour and
poor drainage made for a bad combination at 1314 Division Avenue South.
That's where the weight of the water drove 3,800 square feet of the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store's roof through two floors of the former 1920s furniture factory all the way to the basement.
"We lost 90 percent of our inventory," says Russ Broderick, operations manager.
Undaunted, the board of directors seized the opportunity to make the building ADA compliant.
The original entryway was 3.5 feet off the ground. Architects Tom Tooley and Andy Eckert, co-founders of Serve Studio,
moved it from the west side of the building to the south side along La
Belle Street, creating a ground-level entrance. Inside, they added a
new staircase and passenger elevator to the second floor, where the
store displays its furniture and appliances inventory.
"We had to replace two-thirds of the south wall
because part of it fell down and some had to be taken down because it
was unsafe," says Eckert. "To draw attention to the new entrance we
created two concrete block piers that mimicked the piers of the
existing building, lightened it up and introduced a standing seam metal
panel to give a lot of shadow and depth to the elevation."
They also added a glass curtain wall to
flood the interior with a lot of light. The design called for expanding
the employee break room and relocating it from a windowless area to a
location filled with daylight.
Insurance covered most of the $500,000 price tag.
"They did an enormous amount with a very old decrepit building to bring it into the 21st century," Russ Broderick adds. "If you'd ever told me it could look this good I'da said you were crazy."
Source: Russ Broderick, St. Vincent de Paul Society; Tom Tooley, Andy Eckert, Serve Studio
Photograph by Joshua Tyron -All Rights Reserved
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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