HOUSTON, TX - The National Hurricane Center released Thursday its official 76-page report on Hurricane Harvey and its impacts on Texas and the rest of the United States.
According to the NHC, Harvey’s rains caused catastrophic flooding, making it the second-most costly hurricane in U.S. history, after accounting for inflation, behind only Katrina in 2005.
"The latest NOAA damage estimate from Harvey is $125 billion, with the 90% confidence interval ranging from $90 to $160 billion. The mid-point of the estimate would tie Katrina (2005) as the costliest United States tropical cyclone, which was also $125 billion."
“At least 68 people died from the direct effects of the storm in Texas, the largest number of direct deaths from a tropical cyclone in that state since 1919,” the report stated.
In August 2017, Harvey rapidly intensified into a category 4 hurricane before making landfall along the middle Texas coast. The storm stalled, with its center over or near the Texas coast for four days, “dropping historic amounts of rainfall of more than 60 inches over southeastern Texas.”
“Harvey was the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in United States history, both in scope and peak rainfall amounts, since reliable rainfall records began around the 1880s. The highest storm total rainfall report from Harvey was 60.58 inches near Nederland, Texas, with another report of 60.54 inches from near Groves, Texas.”
At least 160,000 structures were flooded in Harris and Galveston counties, according to the NHC report.
Outside of the Houston area, serious flood damage was reported farther east in Jefferson, Orange, Hardin and Tyler counties, with about 110,000 structures flooded.
Other notes from the NHC report:
“In Fort Bend County, major flooding occurred with both the Brazos and San Bernard Rivers experiencing record floods. Major-to-record flooding occurred along the Brazos River from Richmond to Rosharon. Significant home flooding occurred in areas of Simonton, Richmond, Rosenburg, and Thompsons. Nearly 200,000 people were evacuated due to levee concerns and restrictions. Major-to-record flooding also occurred on the San Bernard River at both East Bernard and Boling, with the hardest hit area being Tierra Grande. At least 8,500 homes in this county were damaged by Harvey.
In Brazoria County, the Brazos and San Bernard Rivers experienced record water levels, which caused widespread floods across the county. The hardest hit communities were in Baileys Prairie, Richard and West Columbia. Widespread major flooding on the Brazos River and Oyster Creek led to numerous roads and homes flooding in Columbia Lakes, Mallard Lakes, Great Lakes, Riverside Estates and the Bar X Ranch subdivisions, as well as homes on CR 39. Flooding damaged the bridge over Cow Creek at CR 25, making it impassable. Major flooding also occurred along the San Bernard River at Sweeny with widespread inundation of the west floodplain. The Phillips 66 refinery took on water near Little Linville Bayou. Hanson Riverside Park was inundated, and water overtopped the Phillips Terminal, halting all vessel traffic. High flows from the Brazos and San Bernard Rivers caused navigation problems for several weeks. Over 9,000 homes experienced flood damage from the storm.
In Wharton County, widespread catastrophic flooding occurred from both the Colorado and San Bernard Rivers, causing Highway 59 to close between Hungerford and El Campo. The flooding inundated areas of Wharton, with hundreds of homes and businesses under water in many communities including Hobben Oaks, Bear Bottom, Elm Grove, River Valley and Pecan Valley. Other areas such as Glenflora, Peach Acres and the Orchard were hard hit. Major-to-record flooding also occurred on the San Bernard River at both East Bernard and Boling, with the hardest hits areas being El Lobo and New Gulf. Major lowland flooding occurred with many homes (including some on the second-story) and businesses being inundated, and the cotton crop was decimated. An estimated 2,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in the county.
Major lowland flooding occurred in Matagorda County along the Tres Palacios River. Many roadways were under water, and homes in the El Dorado Country, Oak Grove, and Tres Palacios Oaks subdivisions flooded. Major flooding also occurred on the Colorado River at Bay City as levees were overtopped by 2 ft of water. High flows from the Colorado and Tres Palacios Rivers impacted river navigation for several weeks. Roughly 2,900 homes were damaged in the county.
In San Jacinto County, major lowland flooding occurred on the Trinity River near Goodrich with damage and debris noted near the boat ramp and channel in proximity to the river gauge. Major flooding occurred upstream near Lake Livingston, with roads and many homes south of the lake being inundated. About 3,300 homes were damaged in the county.
Major-to-record flooding occurred in Liberty County along the Trinity River with numerous roads inundated including FM 787. Many homes and subdivisions were either cut off or inundated, specifically north of the city of Liberty and in the Grenada Lakes Estates subdivision. Significant damage occurred along the banks of the river due to high flows and several utility lines were severed due to the loss of poles in the vicinity of the Romayor gauge. Record river levels were also observed on the east fork of the San Jacinto River causing significant flooding in Cleveland, Williams and Plum Grove. High flows caused significant scouring of the state 105 (business) road; other roads were washed out as well, with bridge washouts or closures observed in many parts of the county. At least 1,000 homes were damaged in the county.
In Chambers County, record floods over the lowlands occurred along the Trinity River. Cedar Bayou was out of its banks in many locations, with significant flooding observed in Baytown. Numerous roads and homes were inundated across the county, including extensive flooding in the Milam Bend subdivision. High flows from the Trinity River impacted the navigation community for several weeks. An estimated 3,000 homes were damaged, and numerous businesses had significant damage.”
You can read the full report and NHC data here (PDF): https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092017_Harvey.pdf
Charges against the Yonkers contractor who allegedly accidentally set fire to an Elmhurst apartment building last April, displacing 175 residents and injuring 11 firefighters, have been dropped.
According to court records provided by his attorney, Declan Mcelhatton will no longer face a fourth-degree arson and second-degree reckless endangerment rap after Assistant District Attorney Charissa Ilardi moved in court last Tuesday for the case to be dismissed.
“While we do believe there was probable cause for the fire marshals to make the arrest,” Illardi said, according to court records, “at this time we do not believe we are able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Mcelhatton, 53, was arrested two days after a fire broke out at 56-11 94 St., two blocks north of the Queens Center mall, on April 11.
The five-alarm blaze damaged or destroyed 112 apartments, forcing the American Red Cross to temporarily convert nearby PS 13 into a shelter for displaced families.
According to the original criminal complaint against him, McElhatton was contracted to work on the building’s roof. The roofing materials he allegedly tried to apply were not supposed to be subjected to heat, and his alleged improper use of a blow torch started the fire.
Dozens of building tenants filed a lawsuit against the management company and the city a few months later in an effort to have an independent administrator oversee the repairs being made to the building and ensure rents could not be raised.
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Yonkers man charged with arson in Elmhurst fire
More than 150 people were displaced in Tuesday's five-alarm blaze
Photo courtesy FDNY
Yonkers resident Declan Mcelhatton has been charged with arson in connection with Tuesday's five-alarm fire in Elmhurst.
Posted: Thursday, April 13, 2017 11:48 am
by Christopher Barca / Associate Editor
UPDATE:
Charges against Declan Mcelhatton were dropped on Jan. 16, 2018 after Assistant District Attorney Charissa Ilardi moved in court to have the case dismissed.
"At this time, we do not believe we are able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," Ilardi said, according to court records.
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A Yonkers man has been charged with arson and reckless endangerment in connection with Tuesday's five-alarm fire that heavily damaged a seven-story Elmhurst apartment building.
According to the FDNY, 53-year-old Declan Mcelhatton allegedly left combustible materials near an open flame in the cockloft of 56-11 94 St., two blocks behind the Queens Center mall, causing an inferno that injured 11 firefighters and displaced 175 people.
Reports, citing the authorities, said Mcelhatton is an employee of Maintenance Asset Management and had been doing work at the building the day the blaze started.
The fire destroyed 112 apartments and according to the Red Cross, 15 of the 67 displaced families spent Tuesday night sleeping at nearby PS 13, which the organization converted into a temporarily shelter.
Two hundred firefighters responded to the blaze, which broke out around 6:30 p.m., extinguishing it shortly before midnight.
Autopsies complete for 3 killed in boat explosion, investigation into cause continues
January 22, 2018
WPSD Staff
MARSHALL COUNTY, KY – Autopsies have been completed for the three people killed when a towboat exploded Friday in Marshall County.
Preliminary findings say each victim died from injuries suffered during the explosion.
A memorial service will soon be announced for one of the victims, Timothy Wright of Calvert City. Wright’s obituary says he worked as a welder for first marine in Calvert City. Lindsey Funeral Home of Paducah is in charge of arrangements.
These photos show James Lang (left) and Jimmy Lang.
Six people were injured in the blast. Among them were father and son Jimmy and James Lang.
The pair are contract workers who were on the upper deck of the towboat when the explosion happened.
We’ve been in contact with Willie Lang, who is Jimmy’s brother. Willie said James has burns all over his hands and face, as well as a broken foot. He said James underwent surgery over the weekend, and he is recovering at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Overall, Willie said said James is doing well.
Willie told us Jimmy is in stable condition Deaconess Midtown Hospital in Evansville, Indiana. Jimmy has several broken bones and internal injuries, including a collapsed lung. He’s out of surgery and doing well. Doctors plan to try to take his ventilator out Tuesday.
Kentucky State Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the cause of the explosion.
KSP spokesman Trooper Jody Cash says troopers are mostly gathering information at this time, and the more technical side of the investigation is in OSHA’s hands. Local 6’s Leah Shields reached out to OSHA during the day Monday, but she got an outgoing message that said they would not be able to get back to her Monday because of the government shutdown. Monday night, President Donald Trump signed a bill reopening the government.
State police confirm that OSHA investigators have been on scene since Friday. Cash says he’s been told that, even if some segments of OSHA were in limbo due to the shutdown, the investigation department continues.
So far, they are still working to find out the cause.
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KSP: No early indication of foul play in boat explosion on Tennessee River
January 19, 2018
Krystle Callais, Leanne Fuller
UPDATE: Kentucky State Police Post 1 has released more information about a boat explosion that killed three people and injured six others on the Tennessee River in Marshall County Friday morning.
In a news release sent Friday afternoon, KSP says the call reporting the explosion came in at 9:17 a.m. The boat was docked on a dry dock on Hollinger Road. More than a dozen local and state agencies responded. Not long after, state police were called in to investigate. The state law enforcement agency says its preliminary investigation shows the explosion happened inside the docked boat, which was being worked on at the time, and there is no early indication of foul play.
Troopers say some of the people hurt in the explosion suffered life-threatening injuries. The names of the people killed in the blast are not being released until authorities have notified their families.
KSP says the agencies that responded to the explosion were the Calvert City Fire Department, the Gilbertsville Fire Department, the East Marshall Fire Department, the Palma-Briensburg Fire Department, the Marshall County Rescue Squad, the Marshall County Office of Emergency Management, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, the Calvert City Police Department, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Marshall County Ambulance Service, Livingston County EMS, Murray-Calloway County Ambulance Service, Mercy regional EMS, and Air Evac.
The U.S. Coast Guard has also been on the scene, and KSP says an investigator with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to arrive soon.
The investigation is expected to go on into the night hours.
Local 6 reporter Bryce Mansfield brought us a briefing from KSP Detective Jody Cash live on Facebook Friday afternoon. If you missed it, you can watch that video below.
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MARSHALL COUNTY, KY – An explosion aboard the William E. Strait, a dry docked tow boat, Friday morning killed three and injured six. When the incident happened, 41 crew members were working on the vessel, according to Kentucky State Police, but not all of them were on the boat.
The boat was on Hollinger Road, along the Tennessee River.
The dock is owned by First Marine. The boat is owned by Smithland Towing. According to maritime-executive.com, it was previously owned by Western Rivers Boat Management in Paducah. Friday is not the boat’s first accident.
The “William E. Strait” sank 20 feet into the Mississippi River in December 2015.
Photo: WMC-TV
Memphis NBC affiliate, WMC-TV, reported in Dec. 2015 that the boat collided with another boat, causing it to sink 20 feet into the Mississippi River.
Brandon Langston is a friend to Tim Wright, the Calvert City man who died in the explosion. He says about Wright: “He was one of the greatest guys I knew. I worked with him a few years ago. I had the pleasure of meeting his wife, Rosey, as well. He was always in a good mood and always willing to help anyone. He will be missed by a bunch of people.”
Langston says Wright was “always involved in the toy runs for kids, always willing to do for others, and one of the greatest people you could ever meet.”
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky sent us this statement Friday night: “Kelley and I are saddened to hear about the tragic explosion in Calvert City this morning. Our thoughts, support, and prayers are with the victims and families of those who were lost.”
Drilling contractor in Quinton explosion had OSHA violations in past
By Samuel Hardiman Tulsa World
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched an investigation into what caused a drilling rig explosion Monday that left five dead in Pittsburg County.
Patterson-UTI Energy, the drilling firm working the rig, has had a handful of OSHA inspection violations in Oklahoma over the past 10 years. The federal agency has conducted 12 inspections of Patterson-UTI rigs and facilities in Oklahoma over the past decade and found four separate violations, according to an OSHA inspection database. However, the company isn’t among the most frequent drilling company violators in Oklahoma during that time, records show.
OSHA confirmed the investigation Tuesday, but declined to comment further.
The agency is responsible for enforcing laws and regulations governing workplace safety and health. It conducts inspections of workplaces involved in oil and gas drilling and servicing operations as it does with other industries.
“The people of Patterson-UTI are our primary focus, and keeping them safe at the well site is always our primary focus. ... We’ve operated across North America for a long time ... and for the past few years we’ve been one of the safest companies in the industry,” said Patterson-UTI President and CEO Andy Hendricks at a news conference.
In a later interview with the Tulsa World, Hendricks cited an industry benchmark for safety and said his firm exceeds that.
“For instance, the International Association of Drilling Contractors on a quarterly basis publishes the organization’s overall safety performance, and for years now … our incident reporting rate has been lower than the industry average,” Hendricks said. “Outside of the tragic event this week ... we were making good progress.”
Hendricks said the rig had gone to work for Red Mountain Energy, the operator of the site, in December.
A search of records over the past 10 years shows no instance of the site being inspected. Patterson-UTI has 30 rigs operating in Oklahoma, according to the Houston-based company’s website.
“We won’t speculate on the investigation at this point, but we will work with OSHA ... to begin the investigation because we want to learn from this,” Hendricks said at the news conference. He said that the national Chemical Safety Board, which often investigates similar incidents, had contacted the company.
“We will work with them,” Hendricks said. He said no regulator had contacted the company about suspending other operations.
A CSB spokeswoman said in an email, “The CSB is sending two investigators to gather additional information in order to determine if the CSB will be pursuing a full investigation.”
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission investigation report said authorities learned at 8:45 a.m. Monday that the well was on fire from an uncontrolled gas release.
The report recommends that the operator should kill the well with heavy drilling mud, make sure it is stabilized with mud and cement plugs, and take soil samples by Feb. 23.
Fatalities among oil and gas extraction workers in Oklahoma are relatively rare. Seven workers in the industry died between 2011 and 2016, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics database.
One worker was killed in Boley in 2017. Someone was injured in a separate Pittsburg County explosion in 2017, according to media reports.
A workplace safety expert with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, Peter Dooley, said work in the oilfield is inherently dangerous.
“The thing that investigators need to be really looking is if there any sort of foreshadowing events ... that indicated possible problems and how they were responded to,” he said. “That’s going to be the most informative information.”
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A fiery explosion at an Oklahoma drilling rig Monday left five people missing, including three employees of the rig's owner, Patterson-UTI Energy of Houston.
The explosion cut through the Patterson-UTI rig just before 9 a.m. Monday, according to Oklahoma authorities, and the Houston driller confirmed that three of its workers were among the missing at the Pittsburg County natural gas well site. Patterson-UTI said the fire's cause was still unknown.
"At this moment, no one knows with certainty what happened, and it would be unwise to speculate," Andy Hendricks, Patterson-UTI's chief executive, said in a statement. "Well control experts and emergency responders are on-site, and we will conduct a thorough investigation when the incident is fully contained. "
Hendricks, who was traveling to Oklahoma, said the company was providing support to the families of the missing, whose names have not been released.
"There is nothing more important to us than the safety of our employees and others we partner with in the field," Hendricks said. "Tonight, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected and their loved ones."
Aerial footage showed several fires were still burning by midday on the rig and much of the equipment had collapsed, the Associated Press reported.
"Pretty much everything that is on location is on fire," Pittsburg County Emergency Management Director Kevin Enloe said during an afternoon news conference.
Patterson-UTI has grown in recent years into one of the nation's largest onshore drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, companies. Patterson-UTI has about 25 drilling rigs active in Oklahoma, second only to Texas, where it has nearly 60 rigs in operation.
The incident occurred at the site of one of Patterson-UTI's more modern APEX 1500 rigs, described as a "light, safe and efficient rapid deployment rig." More than 20 people were working at the well site when the explosion occurred west of Quinton, about 100 miles southeast of Tulsa, authorities said.
Confirmation of any fatalities won't be possible until the fire is extinguished and investigators can get to the scene, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma medical examiner's office. Authorities said they are still searching the surrounding woods to see if anyone had fled into the area.
The drilling site was operated by Oklahoma City-based Red Mountain Operating, said Matt Skinner, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas operators in the state. Red Mountain did not immediately comment.
Skinner said the company has not had any incidents or complaints in the last five years.
A construction worker died from his injuries Tuesday after a large concrete column broke free and hit him in the head at the former Labor Temple Hall at South 29th Street and First Avenue South.
The man had been standing under the column when it hit him in the head, Billings Police Sgt. Harley Cagle said at the scene.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the incident at about 8:30 a.m., and the man was unconscious as he was being loaded into an American Medical Response ambulance at the construction site.
In an email sent shortly before 5 p.m., Fisher Construction Inc. President Jim Berve said a worker "succumbed to his injuries."
The company wrote on its Facebook page: "We have extended our deepest sympathies to the family and are offering as much support to the family as they need to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy."
The company is investigating the incident.
Fisher Construction Inc. co-owner Brent Sumner confirmed Tuesday morning the man was an employee. Fisher Construction is the general contractor for the Community Leadership & Development Inc. housing project, which includes a renovation of portions of the historic building.
The foreman at the scene declined to comment.
The construction crew did not appear to be working on the concrete column, which was part of the former Labor Temple Hall exterior, Cagle said.
"They were trying to remove it at some point, they'd chipped away at it, and it came down on its own," Cagle said after speaking with construction workers at the scene.
The man had been wearing a hard hat at the time, Cagle said.
The former Labor Temple Hall is being renovated as part of the low-income housing project, which was announced in November 2016. Construction began last summer, and is being completed with a $1.1 million grant from the Gianforte Family Foundation.
Traffic was partially blocked at the busy intersection Tuesday morning as police and medical personnel responded to the incident. Billings Fire Department also responded.
The construction industry has one of the highest rates of workplace injuries in Montana, which in 2016 had the fourth-highest overall workplace injury rate among U.S. states for which data was available.
The 2016 statewide rate was 4.2 injuries for every 100 full-time workers, compared with a nationwide rate of 2.9. Within the construction industry, Montana's injury rate was 4.9 per 100 full-time workers.
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The old Labor Temple Hall on Billings’ South Side isn’t going to remain a shell of its former self for much longer.
Community Leadership and Development Inc., a faith-based nonprofit development agency with a track record of constructing housing and providing services to people in need, has purchased the building and is preparing to abate the lead and asbestos inside the century-old hall and begin demolishing portions of it.
What will emerge — about $2.8 million and maybe nine months later — will be a dozen new efficiency apartments, priced below market rates; space for the ministry’s offices, which are now in two buildings; increased capacity for Hannah House Ministries, which serves low-income women and their children; and, perhaps, a business incubator or an old-fashioned community meeting spot in keeping with the history of the Labor Temple Hall, at 24 S. 29th St.
CLDI purchased the dilapidated building in September, said Eric Basye, the agency’s executive director, and already has the money on hand for abatement, demolition and design work, which is being done by Collaborative Design Architects.
The agency is raising money to renovate the hall and construct the new apartments, which will be built on two new floors planned to rise above the hall.
Stockman Bank will match up to $25,000 in donations to help with the work. Visit www.cldibillings.org or call CLDI at 406-256-3002 before Dec. 31 to have your donation matched by the bank.
“This is something we’ve been dreaming about for two years,” Basye said Thursday during a tour of the 14,000-square-foot hall, which has been, in turn, rooms to rent (1889-1912), a Chinese laundry and grocery store (beginning in 1912), a wholesale candy building (through 1944) and, since that time, the Labor Temple Hall. A grocery store also operated on the property after World War II through 1958.
According to a history compiled by CLDI’s Lisa Reinschmidt, 25 labor unions were represented and housed in the cavernous hall, which was also used for community gatherings such as quinceaneras (the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday), funerals, wakes and baby showers.
Reclaiming and restoring the hall, reconstructing the sidewalks and constructing off-street parking “not only mirrors its historical past,” Reinschmidt wrote, “but also seeks to recreate what was once a place of pride, fellowship and community in the South Side.”
Reinschmidt, who runs Hannah House and handles development for CLDI, said that opening up more space for Hannah House, at 109 S. 32nd St., will enable the ministry to serve 15 women at a time, up from eight.
“We now have one room open, and we got nine applications for it in five days,” she said.
The benefits of the planned new facility “are too numerous to nail down,” she said, but they include proximity to needed services, including RiverStone Health, case management through Family Promise and downtown employment opportunities, including cleaning positions at downtown hotels.
“A lot of women we work with don’t drive,” she said. “They have to get to work on foot and come home in the dark of night.”
“Our goal,” she said of the expanded facilities, “is to get women off of receiving services and restore their dignity.”
As he showed off CLDI’s future home, Basye paused inside a large, empty room that practically calls out to be transformed into a community center.
“We’re doing a community survey about how this space can best be used,” he said, and the results of the survey will influence how the space gets transformed.
One option, he said, is a community work space to house small businesses. Tenants could pay rent on a sliding scale.
An extended area in the hall's basement once was the longest bar in Montana, Basye said. It features an old concrete safe, proof that plenty of money changed hands there.
Back in the day, Basye said, parents would bring their children to the bar to enjoy a few drinks and maybe a meal while children played in a separate area.
While CLDI doesn’t plan to open any bars soon, Basye said it’s that kind of community togetherness that the agency will be trying to recreate at the new site.
The project is called Katapheugo, an ancient Greek term that refers to people fleeing for refuge. That’s a “fitting definition,” according to Reinschmidt, as the agency “seeks to offer refuge and hope in a marginalized community.”
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Community group has big plans for old labor temple
By: Ed Kemmick | February 17, 2017
Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
Community Leadership and Development Inc. has big plans for the old Labor Temple Hall at First Avenue South and South 29th Street.
Eric Basye was expecting as many as 80 volunteers to come down to the old Labor Temple Hall on South 29th Street on Saturday for what he’s calling “our first official demo day.”
Basye is the director of Community Leadership and Development Inc., a Christian organization that works on the South Side of Billings under the slogan “Rebuilding Lives, Restoring Families, Re-Neighboring Communities.”
The demolition work will be going on inside the old Labor Temple Hall, a solid brick building at 29th and First Avenue South that has 14,000 square feet between the ground floor and the basement.
CLDI’s plan is to use the long-abandoned building as its new headquarters, a community gathering space and, after adding two floors to the eastern half of the building, 14 to 16 affordable apartments.
Moving the organization’s offices from their current location, a few blocks away at 109½ S. 32nd St., would allow for an expansion of CLDI’s Hannah House program, which provides housing and life-skills training for women in crisis. The program already occupies two houses on the property in front of the CLDI offices.
The new building will be called Kataphuego, Greek for “refuge.” CLDI started looking into relocating its offices three years ago, thinking then that the new location could also include a café, coffee shop and community space.
Those plans evolved as the search for a building continued. At one point, Basye said, they thought they would be able to buy the old Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on South 29th Street.
After that fell through, he said, “we looked at a ton of different buildings” before settling on the renovated Crane Building, a block west of the Labor Temple Hall on First Avenue. But the asking price was too much, so they settled at last on the labor building. It was a decision Basye was happy with.
“We had the opportunity to rehabilitate a building that was literally falling apart,” he said.
Built in 1889, it was used as a boarding house, Chinese laundry and grocery store, a warehouse and then a labor temple. In recent years it had been used for storage by Southside Pawn. Karri Hallock, CLDI’s financial administrator and property manager, said the building hadn’t been connected to city water since 2001.
The CLDI bought the building in September and has been working with Collaborative Design Architects since then on asbestos abatement, demolition plans and a design for the expanded building.
Ed Kemmick/Last Best News
CLDI Director Eric Basye, left, talks about the Labor Temple Hall project with CLDI employees Karri Hallock, Drew Thompson and Steve Houlihan.
On demolition day Saturday, the plan is to rip out everything from ceiling tiles to walls, leaving only one structural wall in the middle of half the ground floor. The western half of the ground floor and the same half of the basement would be connected by a stairwell and used for a community gathering space, and also available for event rental.
The other half of the ground floor could possibly house a café and catering business and maybe some space for launching small businesses. Then, 8,000 square feet will be added on two new floors above the eastern half of the building to create affordable efficiency and one-bedroom apartments.
Creating affordable housing has been the main focus of the CLDI since its founding in 1981 by former state legislator Dave Hagstrom.
Basye said the most recent estimate of the entire Labor Temple Hall project is $3.25 million. The CLDI already has about $1.9 million, mostly in the form of local donations and grants from private foundations.
That total also includes a $200,000 grant from the Downtown Billings Alliance, which would be used for abatement and construction of infrastructure like sidewalks, curbs and gutters. That grant, though, still needs to be approved by the City Council, Basye said.
Plans call for making a parking area out of a vacant lot on the north side of the building and moving the main entrance from South 29th Street to the north side.
Basye said the organization is still working with the architects on final plans for the renovation and is working internally to decide exactly what will end up in the building. They’ve got some time to figure that out.
He said the CLDI hopes to obtain final city approval for its building plans by March and then to start construction by May or June. Construction will probably take 12 to 18 months, he said.
