Chatham Veterinary Clinic: Demolition Discoveries and Delays
Our renovations have officially begun!
Day 1 of demolition made a lot of progress—but then we hit a hard stop.
When you're working in older neighborhoods and on older buildings in Chicago, you can encounter environmental hazards that aren't always visible during the initial inspection. Our property was no exception.
Before we closed on the building, we worked with the previous owners to address an underground heating-oil storage tank that had been discovered on the property. We thought we had taken care of the major surprises before construction began.
Then came demo day.
As walls came down, pipes were removed, and floor tiles were pulled up, we discovered the telltale black mastic adhesive underneath the flooring. Testing confirmed that the material contained asbestos.
Because disturbing asbestos-containing materials can create a health hazard, all work had to stop. The next step was bringing in a licensed remediation company to safely remove the material and complete the required testing before construction could continue.
It's not exactly the discovery you want to make on the first day of demolition.
We're now facing some additional costs and delays, but making sure our future clinic is a healthy environment is more important than keeping the construction schedule moving.
And there's actually a deeper connection to why we're building this clinic in the first place.
At Chatham Veterinary Clinic, our mission isn't limited to caring for pets. We're committed to a One Health approach—recognizing that the health of animals, people, and the environment are all connected.
Healthy pets and healthy people can only thrive in healthy environments.
That's the kind of environment we're working to create here.
Watch Episode 2
We've documented the demolition and the discoveries we've made so far in our latest video.
And if you're just joining us, start with the first episode:
We'll keep documenting the process—the progress, the surprises, the challenges, and eventually the transformation of this space into Chatham Veterinary Clinic.
Stay tuned. 🐾
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