Businesses pick up the pieces in tornadoes’ aftermath

May 30-- May 30--In the wake of Memorial Day's savage tornadoes, business owners were among those picking up the pieces Wednesday.

Curt Morgan, owner of Morgan Tool & Machine LLC, could be found in the debris of what remained of his building at 3500 Stop Eight Road near the Dayton-Vandalia border.

The Memorial Day tornadoes tore his machine shop apart and blew most of it across Webster Street, Morgan said.

"This is my life," Morgan said. "This is all I have."

His next steps depended on what his insurance claims adjuster could tell him, he said.

In Trotwood, the developer of Hara Arena was cautiously optimistic that the iconic building could be salvaged.

If not, the building will have to be demolished, said Michael Heitz, the Lexington, Ky.-based developer who took control of the historic arena a year ago.

Michael Heitz, in a phone interview, said he planned to have a structural engineer inspect the building Wednesday. He expected some kind of assessment within two weeks.

The 650,000-square-foot arena suffered massive damage in the tornado, with its roof torn away and part of the side structure sheared off in the storm.

A big question is whether the structural framework is sound, he said.

The main arena "looks fine" from aerial photos Heitz said he had seen.

"Metal can be replaced," Heitz said. "It probably needed to be replaced anyway."

Much depends on the engineer's assessment. Heitz said he has a "letter of intent" from a prospective buyer of the arena, and he said he secured a $145,000 grant from JobsOhio to conduct a "phase 2" environmental study of the site.

Monitoring wells were to be drilled around the closed arena. Chemical residues may be found after years of hockey teams using the property, and the study will examine what impact that had, Heitz said.

If the environmental study proves favorable, that building will likely be sold, Heitz said. He declined to identify the possible buyer or its industry.

"It was going to bring jobs," Heitz said of Hara's possible future use. "We met with the JobsOhio people last week, we got the tentative approval (based) on the phase 2 (environmental study), and then we were going to sign the letter of intent this week."

Global Automation Service, a maker of automation equipment, occupies 3525 Stop Eight Road, and before Monday it used a warehouse nearly adjacent at 6120 Ventnor Ave. Gary Cox, Global Automation owner, said the tornado destroyed the warehouse that housed some 20,000 square feet of his company's material and equipment.

What remains of those goods will have to be "crammed" into the building still standing, he said.

"I have two buildings on my property, and the back one is completely destroyed," Cox said. "The main building has a little bit of outside damage, but it's structurally fine."

Cox was confident that he would be able to continue with operations.

"It's going to be a little chaotic for a while," Cox said. "But there's not much else we can do."

He described himself as a "one-man company."

"Things will continue as normal, even though we're one building short,' he said.

Nearby, Steve Staub, co-owner of Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Harrison Twp., said his buildings at 2501 Thunderhawk Court were open and operating, even though they were less than a quarter of a mile from other buildings that were destroyed. Staub's business lost power for a time Monday but otherwise was unaffected by the storm.

Erik Collins, Montgomery County economic development developer, said county officials are exploring setting up a web site listing contacts for businesses scrambling for resources after the storms.

Collins said local companies are asking county officials when power will be restored. An area tier 1 automotive parts supplier he declined to name has also asked about reliability of the water supply, he added.

Water outages continued across parts of Dayton and Montgomery County Wednesday and county water officials were urging all county water customers to conserve water usage to avoid a total system depressurization.

"We are still in an emergency situation," said Brianna Wooten, spokeswoman for Montgomery County.

Dozens of businesses in Beavercreek were affected by Monday's tornado, and the Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce is trying to help them recover.

"The chamber is in recovery mode at this point," said Amanda Byers, president/CEO of the Beavercreek Chamber of Commerce. "We're collecting water, nonperishable food items, hygiene items as well as boxes. We're distributing as we see the need."

Byers said there are sections around the Mall at Fairfield Commons that are still inaccessible. She said the chamber is working to build a list of businesses and properties that were damaged, destroyed or otherwise affected by the storm.

Boxes are needed by residents and business people to store or transport files to new spaces.

Byers said businesses are helping other businesses, and the Beavercreek Office Suites is an example.

The office building on Col. Glenn Highway at Grange Hall Road is opening up conference room space and office rooms to accommodate businesses that need not only space to work, but telephone and internet services.

Beavercreek Office Suites Manager Monique Reeves said they have already opened up space for 10 employees of a business where their building was heavily damaged.

"Luckily our building was not hit. We didn't suffer any damage. We saw that as an opportunity to help any businesses in the area that were effected," Reeves said.

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