Week 15 - Demolition!

A lot of science goes into constructing a building. As it turns out, a lot also goes in to tearing one down.

This past Monday morning, the former St. Stanislaus High School building, which for 56 years sat on the corner of Van Buren and Kosciuszko, was demolished. As part of the demolition, the cornerstone of the building was removed. It will join the cornerstone of the convent as part of the historical record of our Parish. Arrangements are being made to open the time capsule from the cornerstone in the near future, possibly as early as the weekend of August 4th. Stay tuned!

The event drew a large crowd for much of the day, and was covered by the Bay City Times and WNEM TV5.

Of course, we provided our own coverage as well, which you can see in the many pictures in this week's photo album. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, video can relay 30,000 a second....



If that wasn't enough excitement for the week, consider these:

The kitchen area of the new Parish Center is getting its brick. If you're still wondering what the new Parish Center will look like, stop by 21st and Farragut.

Steel for the building begins arriving this Sunday! Starting next week, you will see steady progress made towards its installation.

The Parish Campus will be without power on Monday while workers switch over the service to the new underground feeds. Note the Parish Office will likely be closed.

Workers will soon begin rerouting utilities away from the powerhouse in preparation for its demolition, after which the old fuel tanks will be extracted.

The Building Committee selected NetSource One of Saginaw as the technology provider for the project. They will be onsite next week starting to run underground cable.

Full speed ahead!

Week 14 - Follow the Phoneix

Most people are familiar with the mythological phoenix, the red and gold plumed bird which rose from the ashes of death to a new life. Most are likely unaware that despite its Egyptian origins, the phoenix was also used as a symbol of Jesus in early Christianity, who applied the death-to-life metaphor to Christ's death and resurrection.

In many ways, the work we have undergone in building a new Parish Campus is like a Phoenix. As our neighbors can attest, a great deal of ash and dust has already been generated. This week, we added the dust of grading the new drive, and converted the dusty ingredients of cement into a basement floor for our building.

When it comes to dust, though, we're just getting started.

Monday, at 8am, the high school building is slated for demolition. As shown in our photo album, all of the glass block has been removed from the building, and the fences have gone up, all in preparation for the demolition.

From the ashes of its destruction, we will see the rising of our own gold and red bird -- our new Parish Center. And with it, the rest of our Parish Campus.

Week 13 - Triskadekaphobes May Be On to Something

It's fitting that I make this entry on Friday the 13th, because we've had our first bit of bad luck this week, the 13th week of the construction process.

We were informed this week that the steel for our project has been delayed until the end of July. While this is certainly a significant hitch (they had hoped to be starting to install it this week), at this point it doesn't look like the major goal -- to have the project complete by the end of the year -- is in danger. We'll know more next week, so check back then.

In the meantime, the crew is certainly NOT sitting on their hands. As evidenced in our photo album, progress is being made in other areas, with the dropoff circle starting to take shape, grade formation taking place, and the finalizing of the asbestos removal, which will allow us to take down the high school building near the end of the month. Stay tuned for details on THAT, as well.

To pass the time, and to keep your mind off (or perhaps ON) the number 13, I've added an album with photos of the church -- 13 of them in all -- with most having been taken since the start of the project.

If there's one thing I've gotten from this project, personally, it's a greater appreciation of the architecture of our beautiful old church. If you've never really stopped to examine our church before, I invite you to do so.

It's a great reminder that, even during bouts of bad luck, we are truly blessed as a Parish.

Week 12 - Backstage at the Magic Show

For me, the construction of the new Parish Campus is a bit like a magic show. During the week, I am typically at work while most of the construction is going on. One evening a week (sometimes two) I get the opportunity to come into Bay City to see what magic has been done since my last visit.

Since I'm on vacation this week, I actually got a chance to get out to the site while the wizards were doing their thing, and as it turns out, the metaphor lives on. A great number of projects are all underway simultaneously, all caught in this week's photo album. On one end of the site, workers are laying a foundation for a new transformer for the hall, while on the other end the demo team continues to haul scrap out of the old parish center to prepare for the "sawing in half" trick in late July. In between, conduit -- our invisible string -- is going in. Meanwhile, heavy equipment waves its big wand to make the elevation difference between the school parking lot and the Grant Street disappear.

Fireworks pale by comparison!

Like all great shows, backstage at a magic show is a pretty frantic place. There's a lot of planning required to determine how the next set of tricks will occur, and to keep the show moving along smoothly. In our case, Hendrick is working hard to plan what steel is needed first, and how it will be staged. Wakely & Associates, our architect and director, keeps track of the script to make sure the show meets expectations. The Building Committee is figuring out what needs to happen (and when) to make the overhead lines disappear. All the while, the Capital Campaign Committee works to keep the doors open and the curtain up. It's a great crew. But then, it has to be.

October (and with it our partial occupancy permit) seems so far away now, but when the big reveal comes it will have seemed like a mere blink of the eye; a slight of hand.

Until then, we enjoy the anticipation!