David Arthur Consultants relocates in renovated historic building
By Penny Groff
As many Dundee residents may have noticed, for the past few months, scaffolding has been set up at the building on the corner of M-50 and Main Street in downtown Dundee.

The scaffolding was put up so workers could restore and reinforce the building’s structure and replace mortar between the bricks.

Though the scaffolding may have been the most obvious clue to that something was going on, many more renovations have been made to the building by the building’s owners, David and Mima Kubiske, owners of David Arthur Consultants, an engineering firm.

The Kubiskes have put a major investment into saving one of the cornerstone buildings of historic downtown Dundee.

The business, which used to be located in Ida, moved to Dundee because the company had outgrown its prior location.

“We relocated everything,” said Mr. Kubiske. “We had been leasing a building and we just outgrew it. We had a plotter machine that was too big to fit into the building, so we knew it was time to move. We just needed more space.”

While looking for a possible new location, Mr. Kubiske found the historic building in Dundee and knew that it would be perfect for what they wanted to do, though it would need a lot of work.

“We wanted to stay around the central county area,” said Mr. Kubiske. “This building met the requirements of square feet that we were looking for. When I first came in, I saw the potential that this building had.”

Though most business owners wouldn’t bother trying to renovate a building that was in the state this one was in, Mr. Kubiske looked past the crumbling foundation and decided that spending the money to renovate was worth it.

“This building was about two years away from falling apart,” said Mr. Kubiske. “I’ve always felt that people should renovate historic buildings instead of tear them down. The question is, for most people, whether they have the financial stability to save these older buildings.”

But renovating the building to Mr. Kubiske’s likes and needs was not going to be an easy task.

Along with having a horrible, musty smell to the place, the building itself was ready to fall down.

“I thought it looked like it would fall over if a strong wing came,” said Mr. Kubiske.

To help the building meet the company’s needs, the workers decided to build a place inside the building in which to park the company’s trucks.

“We did this so we wouldn’t take up parking in the municipal lot behind us,” said Mr. Kubiske.

Mr. Kubiske had to rebuild entire walls of the building. The building, before the renovations, was just one big open space downstairs. Mr. Kubiske put up interior walls to make it more of an office building.

One of the rooms on the main floor that Mr. Kubiske is most proud of is the lovely conference room. He added a few windows and a tin roof that he had brought in from Cleveland.

Starting with the basement, Mr. Kubiske had to make sure that the lowest level of the building was structurally stable. They added concrete blocks to the sides of the basement and also beams that held up the first floor.

“The floor was collapsing,” said Mr. Kubiske. “We added a lot of beams to help keep it steady.”

Along with the beams to keep the main floor sturdy, Mr. Kubiske also paved each floor with light-crete. Light-crete is like concrete, but once poured on, it takes about five hours for it to solidify.

“We used this so that the floors would be even, instead of wavy,” said Mr. Kubiske. “It also added some structural support. Now all of the floors feel really sturdy beneath your feet.”

The wood floors on the main floor were brought in from a church in West Virginia. The church was built at about the same time as the building in Dundee, but it was being demolished.

“It kept the historic feel to the building,” said Mr. Kubiske.

Mr. Kubiske took down the old stairs to the second floor, and built a whole new floating staircase off to the side. The staircase is beautifully crafted.

“The railing on the stairs is made from old beams that we took from the second story,” said Mr. Kubiske.

The building used to be an old apartment complex. Because of this, the building had a musty, moldy smell to it that could only be taken away by power washing everything.

“We power washed the wood, the walls, everything,” said Mr. Kubiske. “We washed it, then dried it, and then we put a sealer stain on all the wood.”

In the upstairs offices, most of the offices don’t require lighting because of the large windows that allow natural light to come in from the outside. But the offices are equipped with some lights. One office features cable lighting to accent the room.

Mr. Kubiske’s own office is notable for its view.

“The view is really nice from here,” said Mr. Kubiske. He can look out over the whole of downtown Dundee.

The business is doing well in its new location. David Arthur Consultants offers a variety of services including land surveying, civil engineering (road and subdivision design), and architecture. They have a graduate architect and a licensed architect on the premises.

“We’ve done five fire stations in the county,” said Mr. Kubiske. “We have a lot of registered engineers working here. These people know what they’re doing and they’re good at it.”

Another recent project was the new Ida Township library and municipal office building. As for the Dundee building, most of the major construction is done. Mima Kubiske hopes the rest of the construction will be done soon.

“Hopefully the construction will be done in about a month,” said Mrs. Kubiske. “We’re looking to have a grand opening in November sometime, if everything goes according to plan.”