Dream Center Basement Gets Heat, Sprinklers
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WHEELING - The North Wheeling Community Dream Center now has heat and a new sprinkler system as it prepares for life as a daycare center.
But the work does come at considerable cost.
Suff. Bishop Darrell Cummings of Bethlehem Apostolic Temple remembers past Christmas giveaways being quite cold in the basement at the North Wheeling Dream Center.
"Sometimes you could not only hear people, but you could see their breath," he said.
Four new furnaces have been installed in the basement as part of ongoing renovations at the Dream Center that have already cost about $600,000. Cummings estimates the total cost of upgrades at the Dream Center will exceed $1 million before they are completed.
He explained the church's ultimate goal is to locate a daycare center in the basement at the Dream Center in the near future.
The Dream Center is a 35,000 square foot building that has six roofs. All these have been replaced in recent months at a cost of $180,000 to the church, he reported.
A prior failure of the sprinkler system in the building sent water through the structure, resulting in a $250,000 clean-up.
Next, the church needed to install a new sprinkler system at a cost of $125,000, but it wasn't compatible with the existing sprinkler alarm. The new alarm added another $24,000 to the price tag, according to Cummings.
He noted that after their installation, the church's insurance company said they still wouldn't approve coverage of the sprinkler system unless heating was installed in the basement. Four furnaces were needed to heat the large basement area, and their installation cost $20,000 more including duct work.
"This is all good news, but we didn't do it because we wanted to. We did this because our insurance company made us do it," Cummings said.
The Dream Center was once the site of the former Bond Bakery. The basement at that time served as the location of the ovens but was additionally warmed by heaters installed from the ceiling.
Cummings estimates the old heaters hadn't been used "for more than 30 years" as the building sat vacant.
With the addition of the four new furnaces, the building is now heated by 10 furnaces - and has 10 separate gas bills. It also has six separate electric bills, he said.
The new systems in the basement are presently set on 50 degrees.
Cummings acknowledged getting the money to pay for the upgrades hasn't been easy.
"There has been a lot of crying, begging and fasting," he said.
Cummings said the church "was blessed" when Wheeling City Council approved their request for $100,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to establish the daycare center. Ohio County and the state of West Virginia also have provided money for the purpose, he added.
"We've come a long way, even though it may look like nothing has been done," Cummings continued. "We've rebuilt the bones of the building. The next step will be the cosmetics, and to make it look like something has been done.
"We still have a long way to go, but this building is in a much better position than it has been in decades."
Bethlehem Apostolic Temple will have an Easter giveaway at the Dream Center beginning at 11 a.m. on March 30.
"We don't know what the temperature outside will be that day, but the good news is we will be able to control the heat on the inside of the building," Cummings said.