Chabad’s New Landscaping Marks End of Project

Beachwood, OH — Workers this week were seeding a new front lawn and completing other necessary exterior tasks at the Waxman Chabad Center, which opened its doors last winter.

The Chabad Center on Green Road in Beachwood has been a work in progress since ground was broken over five years ago for the mikvah behind the main building. Since then, the city has received complaints about the construction project from Beachwood residents and non-residents, says Bill Griswold, acting Beachwood building commissioner.

A Chabad representative has assured him that a new contractor has been hired to redo the landscaping. “They suggest it will be completed by the end of the week,” Griswold says. “They are 99% complete.”

Landscape contractor John Gregg of G & H Builders LLC has filed a lien with the county recorder against the Chabad Center, saying he’s owed over $23,000. His original contract was for $25,000, which he received. But he claims Chabad didn’t pay him for some change orders, including installing a retaining wall, tree removal, pavers, and a wood chipper.

Mel Waxman, whose family donated most of the funds for the center, said he has had to redo the landscaping because Gregg “was in over his head and did a lousy job.” Gregg did not roll the front lawn, so it was bumpy with depressions, Waxman says. Furthermore, he had to pay some of Gregg’s maintenance workers because the contractor failed to do so.

The Pattie Group has drawn a new landscape design, and Waxman says he’s now getting quotations on installing shrubbery. To seed the lawn, he hired Castle Landscaping, which did the planting at the adjacent Hebrew Academy’s Yavne High School for Girls and Young Israel of Greater Cleveland.

Steve Pattie, whose company designed Chabad’s new master landscape plan, says Gregg worked very hard trying to please everybody, but the whole project suffered from poor design and poor direction. “He (Gregg) kept doing things without (signed) change orders. Some of his problems are of his own doing. I think John is owed more money, but there are things John could have done a lot better.”

Phil Atkins, the general contractor on the project, says that Gregg took so long to finish the landscaping that Chabad had to get extensions from the city. “It’s an unfortunate situation,” Atkins adds. “Mel and Armond Waxman are wonderful benefactors. They put together an incredible project, a unique building, one of the most energy-efficient in Northeast Ohio.”

Beachwood issued Chabad its occupancy permit for the synagogue building last December after grading around the sidewalks and curbs was completed. However, the permit was issued with the condition that the landscaping be completed, Griswold says.

The $3.4 million, 18,000-square-foot center and mikvah are part of the once-controversial three-building Orthodox campus on Green Road. The other two Orthodox Jewish institutions, Yavne School and Young Israel, have been open and operating for several years.

The new Chabad Center with its gabled facade features a front entry that resembles the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn. The main building, containing a sanctuary, offices, social hall and space for community programming, was originally scheduled to be finished in April 2003.

After numerous delays and several extensions, the city gave Chabad until December 31, 2005, to complete its main building. The Chabad Center opened 10 days ahead of the deadline.

Very minor exterior details, such as bricks lying in the yard, which the building department calls “housekeeping,” were still awaiting completion earlier this week, Griswold says. “Keeping it clean and finishing it up – once that’s done, then we aren’t back there (inspecting) other than if we get a complaint. We’re done.”