One of the best parts about our work is experiencing a complete building transformation, from the inside out. The incredible news for us about the urban cities of Alabama is that there are so many older buildings with the potential to be repurposed into something for the community to enjoy. That’s exactly what we found at 2601 East Boulevard in Montgomery, Alabama.
When we first heard about the project to transform an old Piccadilly that went out of business in 2013, we were highly interested in helping recreate the space. Then, we learned the building would be inhabited by Goodwill, and it quickly became a passion project for us.
We began by inspecting the building for structural pieces that we could remove or that needed to transition with the building into the new design. Unfortunately, there were no existing drawings, so we were working solely off of the story that the physical building had to tell us.
The building was unoccupied for several years, so the inspection part of the project was integral. About 60 percent of the building was actually the kitchen, so our first big task was to demo the kitchen space. Our biggest challenge was updating the plumbing and mechanical systems to support the new purpose of the building.
Any time that demo begins in an older building, it seems like the whole team holds their breath for some larger problem to be uncovered. However, we were super pleased that the building stood the test of time, and our work could continue without implementing any of our “Plan B’s.”
Once we determined what structural elements could remain, we were able to begin reconfiguring the space into a more appropriate layout for retail. At this point, we called this stage the “clean space” stage. From here, the vision for the new space becomes even more apparent. The building becomes like a blank slate, and we are able to more clearly see how our designs are going to be executed and look when they are finalized.
Besides the plumbing and mechanical system challenges, one of our other challenges was making sure that the concrete floors would polish. While it was a bit of a hurdle, we were able to get the floors exactly the way that we wanted them to look for our client.
In the end, after six months of reconstruction, we were extremely happy with the final product. Knowing that this space would be used to better the community was the biggest win of them all. Meeting our business promise to deliver an exceptional final product on budget and on time was just an added bonus.