During the weeks leading up to the ceremony at Nela Park, Marcum visited the site four times to prepare for extracting the time capsule with Hanson and Welty. He first scanned the cornerstone with the Ground Penetrating Radar to locate the time capsule, which was a lead box placed within the cornerstone located at the base of the historic building.

After verifying the location, Marcum predrilled the area to prepare for the extraction. Marcum line drilled 3 ½ inch diameter by 7 inch deep holes into the stone. This prepared the area according to GE Lighting’s request to keep the time capsule encapsulated until the day of the reception.

On the day of the anniversary reception, Marcum made the final full-depth penetration to expose the time capsule. He core drilled several 9 inch deep holes horizontally into the stone and removed the cores surrounding the lead box to lay out the exact location of the time capsule. There were five incandescent light bulbs packed in the sand above the time capsule. With intricate detail, Marcum drilled close enough to the bulbs so they could be removed the day of the ceremony.

As the GE CEO, executives, employees, media representatives and community gathered around Building 307 in the center of the Nela Park campus for the presentation, Marcum assisted GE Lighting’s Bill Bogatoy in removing the lead box and the fragile light bulbs from the drilled hole. They peeled the sides of the lead box off to reveal the time capsule’s artifacts, including photos of Nela’s founders, journals, a book of technical specifications and a Cleveland Plain Dealer article. 

The GE executives displayed all the monumental artifacts found in the time capsule and even tested one of the 40-watt original light bulbs to show it still worked.  Precision is honored to have been part of the 100^th anniversary and assist in revealing a significant artifact in GE Lighting’s history.

For more details and a video of GE Lighting’s 100^th anniversary reception, visit the Plain Dealer news article.

For more information on ProCut's progress and both Precision teams' work at the Cleveland Casino, visit Precision Environmental News.

The Giant Eagle needed the rooftop cupola and siding repaired as soon as possible to enable the store to regain power and open again. Precision ProCut received an emergency response call that day from general contracting company, FMS Construction, and traveled to the site immediately to assess the damage.

ProCut's Project Manager, Matt Marcum, led the disaster recovery team to remove the 35-foot by 35-foot roof in one piece. ProCut was able to safely remove the damaged roof for the construction to begin on Giant Eagle's new roof.

The Chesterland town and the safety first-responders, including the fire marshal, police and other local officials, all actively responded to the scene and observed ProCut remove the roof. They thanked the ProCut team for completing the tough job within a short time. The structural removal job was a unique challenge, but also a rewarding and noteworthy accomplishment for our ProCut team.

Here’s a video of ProCut removing the Giant Eagle roof, from the news-herald.com: http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2011/08/25/news/doc4e56a7aa4ea1f822270300.txt

Considering the aquarium is expected to attract at least 400,000 visitors annually, Precision ProCut is honored to have been involved in its initial phase of construction for a future tourism and entertainment feature in Cleveland. Starting in the beginning of March, ProCut successfully completed its concrete sawing and selective demolition portion of the aquarium project within two months.

The New Zealand-based aquarium design company, Marinescape NZ Limited, and the local Jacobs Entertainment, Inc. joined to build the Greater Cleveland Aquarium in the historic Powerhouse. This Marinescape walk-through aquarium will be the first of its kind built in the United States, and 22nd aquarium that Marinescape has built in the world. It will also be the world's first aquarium exhibit located inside a 60-feet tall smokestack, presenting some unique challenges for the developers and construction laborers.

The aquarium required complete interior demolition of the lower level of the Powerhouse to facilitate new construction of the aquarium's 70,000 square feet of exhibits. Marinescape NZ Limited and Jacobs Entertainment hired Precision ProCut to perform the selective demolition, concrete cutting and removal services prior to placing the exhibits and remaining features.

ProCut worked in the basement of the Powerhouse, which will be serving its third purpose since it was built in the late 19th century, to originally provide energy to Cleveland’s streetcars. The Powerhouse was renovated in the 1980s to house restaurants, stores and bars.

ProCut Clears the Way for Aquarium Construction

Since March 2011, ProCut has been contributing to the Powerhouse’s third transformation by clearing the way for Cleveland’s first underwater, walk-through aquarium. The Powerhouse basement will allow for 40 aquariums, including ceiling and Seatube tanks, to be built within seven walk-through rooms with specific themes representing bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes, Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

Precision’s demolition team removed ceiling plaster and created openings in the concrete floors to insert the tall aquariums. They used four different saws to complete the selective demolition of the interior structures, including beams, flooring and walls. ProCut used the Electric Mini Excavator to remove the concrete and additional materials from the tight, interior spaces. They also tested the concrete surface with its Ground Penetrating Radar to determine the thickness of the concrete and identify any structural and nonstructural targets embedded in the concrete before cutting.

ProCut is proud to have successfully completed its contracted work of the exciting new development in the Flats, and avoided disturbing the operations of the banquet facility, Windows on the River, located above the construction in the Powerhouse. The ProCut team looks forward to seeing the results of their work as soon as the aquarium construction finishes and opens in January 2012.