The Claridon-Kellogg House is defunct, but the Red Tulip recovery house for women on Claridon Township Square will rise from the rubble.
The Claridon-Kellogg House is defunct, but the Red Tulip recovery house for women on Claridon Township Square will rise from the rubble.
The old farmhouse, sold by the Kellogg family to the township for $1 and leased to the Red Tulip Project for five years, was torn down the first week after the deluge in July knocked out the eastern wall of the basement, said Jim Dvorak.
Before the storm, the west wall was already buckled and in need of repair, said Dvorak, who is on the Red Tulip board and in charge of construction. When the rain abated and a structural engineer declared the structure past redemption, the board agreed it couldn’t be saved.
Within a few days, the house was gone and architect Stephen Ciciretto, of Bainbridge Township, volunteered to design a three-bedroom, three-bath ranch-style house for the lot, Dvorak said.
Lallo Masonry, of Munson Township, stepped up to build the basement and Dvorak said he is working with two local companies to provide materials and concrete.
If all falls into place, the Red Tulip Project board and supporters hope to have the basement done by November and the shell up by January, he said.
Roofing contractor David Somrock has volunteered to shingle the roof and Geauga Mechanical Co. said they would install the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Dvorak said.
Meanwhile, the plans are with the Geauga County Building Department for approval and permits for the project are in the works, he said.
Even with all the volunteer effort, the board knew some costs couldn’t be avoided, so generous donations and activities to bring in money have brought the project coffers about $108,000, so far.
“Fundraising has been going phenomenally,” Dvorak said. “We raised $15,000 in one night at the Pasta with a Purpose dinner on Sept. 29.”
Putting a new house on the lot should increase the property’s value to about $300,000, but, with all the volunteer labor and donations, he said he estimates construction will cost less than half that. If the board can take out a loan to cover that, the money raised so far can be used to operate the recovery house for the first year.
“We’re very confident we can do it for $140,000,” Dvorak said.
When the structure was demolished, workers discovered other problems that would have made use of the house for recovering addicts risky and, eventually, more expensive.
For instance, timbers that held up the floor were hollowed out, apparently due to insects, he said, making renovation of the old building problematic.
So the new L-shaped structure will house four recovering addicts and one “house mom,” giving the women a place to live for a few months after becoming sober while they work toward economic and emotional independence, he said.
Dvorak is one of 10 directors on the Red Tulip Project board and has a vested interest in pushing back the tide of the heroin and opiate epidemic in Northeast Ohio.
He lost his daughter, Jamie Marie Dvorak, to drug addiction in February 2017.
The Red Tulip Project is a nonprofit group and anyone interested in more information may contact him at 440-554-1404.
