Demolition begins for SLI parking lot

After standing for roughly 50 years, it will only take 10 days to demolish the building at 400 S.E. Croix St. and two months for a parking lot and landscaping to stand in its place.

SLI, an organization that provides housing and other support to people with intellectual disabilities, bought the vacant property about five months ago.

Four years after opening a new service center in the building next door, the organization already needed additional parking for clients and case managers. About 50 employees and 50 clients come to the service center each day. On top of regular traffic, the center also regularly hosts meetings for case managers.

“The other thing is, we’re very much invested into our community. We’ve been here for 47 years and we wanted to make sure we could make it look attractive,” said Jo Ann Tate, vice president of development for SLI. “If we purchased it, we could add to the beauty of the community and plus give us some additional parking space.”

Tate said SLI's clients are excited to see the project's progress, and she hopes it will beautify the area.

“This has been an area that there’s not been a lot of businesses in it and the upkeep has not always been as nice as it could be,” she said. “(The building) has become kind of an eyesore.”

SLI is working with Schmidt, Beck and Boyd Engineering to create a plan for a parking lot and surrounding landscaping. Although the plans haven't yet been drawn up, Tate said, if weather permits, the entire project should be completed by the end of November.

“They’re working on those plans now,” Tate said. “Once (the building) is down, then they’ll really be able to see what they can do with it.”

Demolition of the vacant building by Bahm Demolition started at the beginning of this week. Tate said SLI chose the company partly because of its focus on recycling and the community.

“We’re not as fast as some people, because we process the material on site,” said David Bahm, vice president of Bahm Demolition. “We do a lot of recycling on site, and we work around the weather so we don’t have trash blowing everywhere.”

Bahm said the company is able to recycle 80 percent of building materials from most of its projects. Bahm Demolition also owns and operates Greenpoint Recycling.

Katie Bernard is a freelance writer in northeast Kansas. She can be reached at kjbernard11@gmail.com.