This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Bay Area Recycling for Charities has begun deconstructing the former Frankfort Community Center from the inside, removing materials to be repurposed or sold for scrap. 

Bay Area Recycling for Charities has begun deconstructing the former Frankfort Community Center from the inside, removing materials to be repurposed or sold for scrap.

The former Frankfort Community Center is now being "demolished" after the project was put on hold due to COVID-19 and lack of funding. 

The former Frankfort Community Center is now being "demolished" after the project was put on hold due to COVID-19 and lack of funding. 

FRANKFORT – Passersby might not notice it, but a building with a long history in Frankfort is being demolished.

The former civic center, located at the east end of Frankfort, is being taken apart by the inside. The work is being done by Bay Area Recycling for Charities, a Traverse City based business offering “eco-friendly” recycling services.

The Frankfort City Council voted to demolish the building in 2019 after lengthy discussion on whether or not it could be repurposed. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of funds postponed the demolition, according to city officials.

“We started around July 1, removing furniture from the building,” said Andy Gale, founder of Bay Area Recycling for Charities. “We’re basically deconstructing the building, which is the opposite of construction. We’re reverse engineering the whole building.”

Gale said wall finishes and drywall have been removed, as well as the electrical, plumbing and heating systems.

“We’ll probably be able to recycle about 80% of the material that comes out,” he said. “All of the mechanical pieces, the metal and the plumbing and heating and electrical have markets we can sell to scrap yards or resell useable equipment at our thrift store in Kaleva if it isn’t too old.”

Gale said items such as furniture, kitchen appliances and pool tables have already been take to the thrift store. Mechanical fixtures, pipes and wiring can be sold for scrap if they cannot be reused.  

Gale said deconstruction is at a point where the structural frame of the building is the next thing to be removed.

“We’re determining whether it is sound enough to remove in large sections to be reused, or in pieces,” he said. “We’re thinking of removing the roof in 8-foot sections. It can all be reused on another building.”

Gale said Bay Area Recycling has architects and engineers who help make the determination on whether or not the structure can be reused.

Some of the material, like drywall, goes to a landfill.

“There is no market for painted drywall,” Gale said.

Gale said the building was unique in that it was “cast in concrete,” with some of the roof structure being made of concrete. The old concrete will be recycled as well.

In the end, there will be nothing left where the building one stood.

“Once we backfill, it will look like it was never there,” Gale said.

The former community center will be about the 15th building the recycling company has deconstructed in 2022.

“It is a little sad; you never want to see an old building that has had a long life in the community go,” said Josh Mills, superintendent for the city of Frankfort. "It outlived its useful life several years ago.”

Mills said in previous reports the cost of demolition is around $26,000. He said the cost was low because materials collected by Bay Area Recycling can be repurposed. He also said American Recovery Plan Act funding was used to pay for demolition.

“We’ll continue to work toward the development of a community resource center to enhance the wellbeing of the community,” Mills said. “There could be event space, space for daycare and for resources to be brought to the community. We could have a space for Frankfort history.”

Mills said the building was originally built in the 1920s as an office for a lumber yard. The city acquired the building through a land grant in the 1970s and worked out an agreement with the county and the then council on aging to host a senior center in the building.

It operated as a senior center until 2004.

The city then operated the building as a recreation center, which included youth activities. In 2012, the building was leased to Masonic Crystal Lodge 270, with the idea that the city and the Masonic lodge would work together to raise money to repair or replace the building.

However, the lodge merged with another Masonic lodge and plans to build a new center fell through. Plans to possibly use the center as is until money was raised to rebuild it were brought up by member of city council until it was ultimately slated for demolition through the 2019 vote.

I grew up in Frankfort enjoying the lakes and streams of the Benzie County area. I started school at Northwestern Michigan College and finished at Central Michigan University. I enjoy walking, fishing and reading.