Medical building destroyed by fire will eventually be 'back in business,' owner says

Lansing State Journal

A medical office complex on the 700 block of North Creyts Road was severely damaged July 1 by a fire. The cause has been undetermined, officials say.

DELTA TOWNSHIP -- A medical office building that was destroyed in a July 1 fire will eventually be rebuilt, said Dr. Charles Roost, its owner.

"We will be back into business," said Roost, who anticipates a year-long process. "We believe that God saw us through this and it could have been a lot worse."

This building in Delta Township at Saginaw Highway and Creyts Road was destroyed July 1 in a fire. It housed two medical offices.

Roost is also owner of Delta Chiropractic Center, which shared space inside the building at West Saginaw and Creyts Road with America's Best Hearing, formerly Connect Hearing.

Both businesses that were inside the 5,000-square-foot building at 722 N. Creyts have moved out and still serve patients at temporary locations.

The cause of the fire that started about 3 a.m. July 1 hasn't been determined, said Mike Roberts, Delta Township's fire inspector.

“We’re still looking at the origin and cause to it," Roberts said.

Roberts said township fire officials were expected to meet Monday and evaluate several reports.

Delta Chiropractic recently moved to a temporary location at the Gilead Healing Center, 306 S. Creyts. For more information, call (517) 321-3030.

As of Thursday afternoon, Roost said staff had not determined if X-ray records for 200 patients stored on a computer hard drive in the fire damaged building were salvageable.

The good news, Roost said, is that staff have written reports for all those patients.

"Inside looks horrible," Roost said of the building. "But it's still pretty amazing to see what did survive. It's interesting to see how many paper things survived on desktops."

All contents inside the America's Best Hearing portion of the building appears destroyed, said Sue Gamel, a patient care coordinator.

The hearing aide company that was inside the building is expected to open in "a few weeks" a temporary location at 603 N. Waverly Road, Gamel said.

For now, Lansing area patients with immediate needs like a new battery for a hearing aide can get hep if they call (517) 323-7986.

Gamel said she's hopeful the company will move back to the Creyts and Saginaw location once Roost's rebuilding plan is complete.

"If wishes can come true, we will be back there," Gamel said.

Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.