This was not an easy construction project.

After about 15 years of not seeing or speaking with a former real estate developer client, I showed up at his office unannounced the day after meeting the nearly 100-year-old structural engineer who said I needed to reframe the building with steel I-beams. 

As he walked through the space, I didn’t like the look on his face. He told me that he was too busy to help but would be happy to introduce me to his contractors and told me to write down all the information he was about to share quickly. 

He explained that I was going to become a general contractor and that I would subcontract the work to his subs. He explained every step of the process, who would be doing what work, at what time to line up each one, and most of all, keep an eye on everything. The subs included an engineer, a carpenter, a drywall contractor, a concrete contractor, an electrician, an insulation company, and a plumber. There were more, but this was the primary cast of characters. He even told me where to buy my building supplies.

This building was in terrible shape, just how bad I did not know until after we revealed all of the “bones.”

The foundation was cracked because a very tall tree grew out of the foundation. This tree was the size of the building. Removing this tree would prove to be a significant challenge. The building was on the Tiber River. When you work on a construction project on a river, no debris can fall into the river, or you are fined. It’s just about impossible to take down a tree this way, but thousands of dollars later, we did it.

When it came time to remove the paneling from the back wall of the building, which fronted the Tiber River, years of neglect, water damage, and beetle damage reared their ugly head. Almost the entire back of the building literally fell off. The subs jumped off the scaffold to collect fallen debris to avoid being fined.

There were people management issues along the way. This was not an easy construction project, and the difficulty was compounded by how I was “specially treated” by the DPZ.

I used my hands on this building and every inch of my soul. 

I was romantically involved with nothing but this building for more than a year and a half. I did not realize that when you gut a building, it’s a good idea to have a place to throw the trash. There was no place to put a dumpster. Every day, I still thank goodness for my friend Ricky, whose company owned various-sized dump trucks, and his willingness to help me with this project. Ricky is undoubtedly going to heaven.

The “bones” of the building were not good. In a blur, this building I was romantically involved with quickly became a terribly dysfunctional relationship. The kind that required counseling.

For almost two years, every day at 6am, I met crews at the building to go over the day’s tasks, and every evening at 6pm, Ricky and I spent the next four to six hours emptying the day’s rubble so that the next day, the crew had a clean slate. The estimated eighty-thousand-dollar renovation reached one-hundred-thousand, then one-hundred-fifty-thousand; by the end, it was very close to four hundred thousand dollars to complete this building in 1998/1999.

Most people would have declared bankruptcy. That was not an option for me. I persevered. In the end, I had a shiny new building. The only thing that wasn’t shiny and new was the facade because it was historic.

The nuances of historic preservation and the limitations which I encountered are for another story at another time.

Despite the tax credits, I was broke by the time this was over. My business suffered because my attention had been so divided for so long. I was burnt out and exhausted. Did I mention that I was broke?

May the actual director of Howard County DPZ please stand up?

As soon as the project was completed, I invited Joe Rutter, the director of Howard County DPZ, to meet me at my building to show him my accomplishment and tell him my Adolphe Huriaux story. Joe told me it didn’t surprise him and acknowledged that Mr. Huriaux might have harassed me.

Joe later invited me to a town meeting where I was presented with a plaque for my historic preservation accomplishment. I got up, thanked the lovely group of folks for the plaque, said, “I will never do this again,” and exited the podium. I was asked to speak.

I got a few laughs.

That is not what I was after.

As I see it, the gutting and the rebuilding of this building was a significant contribution of both my time and money to the township of Ellicott City. In one lifetime, it was enough to give.

A couple years after the building renovation, my company had grown so much that I found myself walking up and down Main Street looking for a second building. I looked at a few places. None worked. I consulted with that old client, who told me how to be a general contractor, for advice on what to do. He explained the game of Monopoly. He said, “You want to buy the building right next door and keep buying the buildings on the street until you own the whole block.” 

It was not an option for me as no buildings on the street were available. Immediately to my left was a Baptist church which had been incorporated since the late 1800s.

On the other side, the building was on the verge of condemnation.