When we bought our current office space it wasn’t much more than a derelict teardown. Our friends thought we were crazy to buy this piece of property with a leaking roof and a foot and a half of water standing in the basement, with the furnace in the middle of that mess.
We looked at the place with different eyes. We had a vision that enabled us to see beyond the obvious shortcomings of the building and notice that it had good bones! Even though it was 70 years old the block walls were intact, and the roof joists were fine. And, best of all, the building would have enough space for our purposes once we remodeled it. And so we did.
It was a daunting task at first — the interior demolition work took such a long time it felt like an eternity. But once we started building new walls, cutting an opening for the new stairway, opening up the basement ceiling to allow daylight into the lower level… things started to turn in our favor. All of the sudden the once-ugly beast turned into an amazing beauty, flooded with light and super energy-efficient
This transition did no go unnoticed. Now sometimes people walking past just pop in to say how much they love what we’ve done to the building. And we even got an award from the City of Cleveland Heights — a 2019 Community Improvement Award!
Many thanks to the City of Cleveland Heights for recognizing the investment we made in the Cedar Taylor business district when we overhauled the place and made it into our office and showroom. It’s a wonderful feeling to have our efforts acknowledged after working so hard to bring an old building up to date and back to life. It took a bit of imagination, lots of sweat, and an injection of cash to renovate the place, but it’s all been worth it in the end.
We now have a beautiful showroom for our modern kitchens, energy-efficient windows, and sustainable decking materials. It’s perfect when we have clients come in to select the finishes for their new homes! And best of all, it’s a light and airy place to work for our growing staff. Providing a healthy environment for them was a priority for us.
Michelle Kolbe, our CCO, went to City Hall in mid-October to receive the award on behalf of the company. She enjoyed meeting the other business award winners and visiting with the homeowners who had been recognized for their contributions to the beautification of Cleveland Heights. It was also a great opportunity to hobnob with various local officials who are responsible for the city’s continued success. We are happy to call Cleveland Heights home!
