By SARA FURLONG

s.furlong@bradfordera.com

The former Custer City school will not go the way of either West Branch or Derrick City elementary schools. West Branch was demolished and Derrick City sat vacant until it became necessary for it to be torn down.

Bob Cummins Construction has purchased the Custer City property and is renovating the space for apartments.

‘There’s such a big need for apartments around here — nice apartments — that’s what we decided to put in,’ Nick Cummins explained. ‘That school was just going to sit empty and we thought to do this for the good of the community.’

He noted the finished building will have 12 units, and that allows the gymnasium to be left as is. ‘The grade-school wrestlers are using that gym now for practice,’ he said.

As for the baseball and soccer fields on the property, Cummins said they have no plans for those areas, so it’s game on as usual.

Cummins Construction has a crew of about five people working on the project. So far, Cummins said they ‘had to demo a lot of walls. We had to remove and replace insulation, level up the floors and install a new heating and hot water system.’

The building is now outfitted with forced air heating and on-demand hot water. On-demand systems heat the water as needed — without a storage tank — which can save both space and energy.

There have been a few windows that needed to be removed and replaced due to worn out caulking.

‘We’re hoping we can save most of them,’ Cummins said of the rest of the project. ‘We may have to replace a few of them.’

School… page A-8

The old Custer City school was purchased by Bob Cummins Construction to be renovated into apartments.

Era photo by Sara Furlong When finished, the building will comprise six one-bedroom units, five two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom apartment. They will include a refrigerator, stove and microwave.

Cummins said he couldn’t speak to potential rent costs until the apartments are finished and he has had a handle on the project totals, but that utilities would be included.

“They won’t be available for another eight weeks probably. We’re working hard on it. In eight 1 weeks we should have four (apartments) about ready.”

Anyone interested in the new apartments can contact Nick Cummins on his cell phone, at (814) 598-6186.