MEC Renovation History

The Renovation of the MEC

The MEC building itself is being renovated, but in coordination with a three story office complex going up next door. Up until about February 2004, the MEC was mostly a storage/workspace for the building of the office complex. But once the cinder block support wall between the two buildings went up, the MEC itself went ahead as follows: The entire space was gutted. The basement was filled in and a cement slab floor poured, The back loft space was raised to make a second story as a home for the new KMEC radio station, and a new structural support wall was constructed on the west side wall. The MEC itself when it returns will be upstairs with KMEC and share the space with other community groups. A new more inclusive name for the organization has not been decided.

9/1/03 - One of the last moving days	9/1/03 - One of the last moving days
9/1/03 - The MEC's temporary digs	11/20/03 - East wall torn out of MEC with new 2x6 stud wall in place.
11/20/03 - Closer look where new common cement wall will be built for the two buildings.	11/20/03 - Back hoe leveling ground to pour slab for office building.
1/12/04 - I-beam framework of office building going up.	2/5/04 - Walls of office building going up, including the structural east wall for the MEC as well.
2/5/04 - Finally, a peek inside the MEC, currently a workspace for the office building next door!	3/2/04 - Couldn't get picture inside but work has finally started within the MEC.
3/23/04 - Starting to put roof on office building.	3/23/04 - Finally, a peek through the window. A lot of progress! Roof is raised for second floor mezzanine where KMEC is going to be, and the stairs going up are in. Support wall on Sports Attic side is in. Cement floor is in. Coming right along!
4/6/04 - Rafters in upstairs mezzanine, future home of KMEC radio.	4/6/04 - New improved skylight in the middle of building.
4/6/04 - Main room. Still work going on with infrastructure: plumbing for downstairs bathroom, etc.	7/20/04 - Upstairs...You are seeing the framing walls going up for the two KMEC radio studios. The reason for the big time gap since the last picture is that a lot of infrastructure work has been going on: electrical, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, etc.
7/20/04 - Upstairs...Hole in roof where one of three skylights are going to go to provide some natural light for the upstairs rooms.	9/4/04 - Insulation goes in on ceiling as long period of infrastructure installation starts wrapping up. Electrical inspection passed yesterday. Insulation, sheet rocking, mudding, painting, and so it goes!
9/4/04 - Ethernet networking wires, phone wires, and tv signal wires pulled to a wiring closet location. There is going to be a cabinet in the corner where all these wires will be hubbed and organized.	9/13/04 - Betty and Gary Ball come for a visit and take a look at the renovation. Left to right: Jean Harmon, Margine McGee, Betty & Gary Ball, Lang Russel, Micah Beck.
9/28/04 - Govinda and Chris check out where the KMEC antenna will go up the side of the wall of the building to the east of the MEC.	9/28/04 - High school students in the Community Youth Radio Project help set up the networking system at the MEC.
10/11/04 - You'd never know it, but the completion is getting really close! The earthquake sheathing is done, and what is left is sheetrocking, mudding, and painting.	10/11/04 - A before look at the KMEC studio rooms, ready for sheetrock, etc.
10/11/04 - Insulation all but done.	11/4/04 - KMEC studio room tabla rasa after earthquake sheathing on west and north walls.
11/4/04 - KMEC studio installation begins. We don't want to even have to wait for the sheetrocking. Power comes to the room from an extension cord.	11/4/04 - A lot of cables and cords needed to start putting the studio equipment together!
11/16/04 - Mixer is set up. First broadcast night for the Community Youth Radio Project. Sheetrock is now up in the studio because we decided to sheetrock the studio ourselves.	11/16/04 - The small studio room is packed with young people for the first Community Youth Radio Project broadcast.
11/23/04 - KMEC is occasionally on the air at this point as test broadcasts take place. This picture shows studio after sheetrocking and painting. Equipment sits on card tables. Studio is now painted and electrified.	12/8/04 - Built-in table installed in KMEC studio. Station is on the air a couple of days a week now. KMEC is just about ready for primetime!
12/15/04 - Sheetrocking is finally done. Next comes mud and taping.	12/23/04 - KMEC studio turns into a storage room while taping and mudding goes on.
12/23/04 - Taping finished.	12/23/04 - And the upstairs future MEC office space and two radio studios.
1/5/05 - A little hard to tell in this photo but the MEC is painted...yellow walls and blue ceiling.	1/5/05 - And the upstairs MEC office.
1/10/05 - Chris Bennett, KMEC station manager, is on the air.	1/21/05 - KMEC Antenna is mounted on its pole and secured.
2/23/05 - The broken glass in the front window has been repaired, and while the front fascade stills need upgrading, the inside is very near completion.	2/23/05 - First meeting in the new MEC, the founding meeting of the Natural Medicines Research Institute...although the MEC is still just a big empty space at this point.
3/1/05 - Downstairs with ceiling lights/fans going in. It's really close!	3/1/05 - Upstairs KMEC Office. We still need a door to the production studio, but it's a working radio station!