Springfield’s green ReBuild Warehouse set to close

Everyone who walked into the ReBuild Warehouse in Springfield thought it was just a great idea, a great place. A place where discarded building materials — doors, windows, sinks, flooring — could be recycled rather than trashed. A place where residents could take weekly workshops on how to remake their homes and communities into green, sustainable spaces. A place that provided jobs to folks who otherwise had a hard time finding work. But thoughts and deeds are different things. And ReBuild is closing Sunday, the victim of a lousy economy and an indifferent government, executive director Paul Hughes said. Sitting in a 12,000-square foot warehouse in an industrial park near Edsall Road and I-395, Hughes is making plans to unload hundreds of surplus doors, stacks of oak floor panels, gas stoves and other seemingly valuable stuff that just couldn’t find a home in a time when people aren’t remodeling and building like they used to.

Hughes hopes they can find a new space, or a new source of funding to keep ReBuild alive in some way. He plans to keep offering the workshops and training workers. But unless a savior steps up soon, the best non-Home Depot place to go for building supplies will mostly vanish.

Share

Tweet

.