July 24, 2019 – West Bend, WI – Jon Bohn from Albiero Plumbing has been working on the roof at the downtown West Bend Theatre, 125 N. Main Street prepping for the Thursday, July 25 delivery and installation of four HVAC units.
A helicopter is being used to lift the units into place. “We have four units that will be removed and replaced with four new units,” Bohn said.
Bohn said the individual HVAC units weigh about 1,000 pounds a piece.
A helicopter lift/placement will take place Thursday, July 25 from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Staging for this install will be right below the theatre on Veterans Avenue..
“We’re going to be flying the equipment back and forth between the theatre and staging,” said Bohn.
There will be some pretty big safety issues to consider with regard to this type of special delivery.
Albiero’s Travis Roell said logistically it wasn’t possible to complete the project from the ground because of restrictions on closing Main Street in the Downtown West Bend Business District.
“We couldn’t bring in a crane because we’d have to shut down the road for two days,” said Roell. “This probably hasn’t been done before …. we’ve not done this before.”
Years ago when the theatre was built in 1929, Roell speculates a crane had to be used to install the heating system. “Who knows… they could have taken them up there with ropes for all we know,” he said.
Safety, is a big factor and according to Bohn the helicopter company will require two crews for the project.
“One will be on the ground in the staging area to hook the equipment to the helicopter and another crew on the roof to guide it into place,” he said.
Midwest Helicopter from Illinois will be assisting Albiero Plumbing with the project. Below is a video of some of its work as it lifted a Beach Bonanza B36 out of a bean field and back to DuPage Airport.
“We’re pretty excited about this project,” said Roell. “We’re wishing we could get into the helicopter but I don’t think that’s going to happen for anybody but it’ll be interesting to see.”
Right now there are four rooftop heating units and the AC is actually ingenious.
“There’s a six-foot tall giant squirrel cage in the basement and back in the day it would cycle water from the river with a huge fan and it would blow that cool air into the theatre,” said Roell. “That unit is still in the building, we’ve seen it… it’s kind of a piece of history in and of itself.”
A refurbishing of the Historic West Bend Theatre is underway. Click HERE to read more.
