PORT ST. LUCIE -- When most people
with normal work schedules were caught in 6 p.m. rush-hour
traffic on a recent Thursday afternoon, Kim Brownie was
tossing in bed trying to get some sleep.
Brownie does not keep a normal work schedule. His business,
Brownie Moving & Heavy Hauling, an 82-year-old company
based in Fort Pierce, specializes in moving houses of all
shapes and sizes, old and new.
Business is going so well for the Brownies that family members
work different shifts. During the day, part of the clan
prepared a house at 3191 S.W. Briggs St. near Darwin Square
in Port St. Lucie. The house was raised for a move just
two lots away on Dubois Avenue.
Joel Dramis, a technical services manager for Port St.
Lucie's Building Department, said that once all the required
permits have been issued and the house has been jacked up, the
new ordinance requires the movers to complete the haul in 14
days.
However, the building official can give extra time under
certain circumstances, such as too much rain, Dramis said.
Gauging from city permits, Dramis said the Brownies move
about 20 houses a year in the area. Dramis said there are many
houses in excellent condition earmarked for demolition because
certain areas in the city have been rezoned for commercial
uses.
It's more profitable to move a house to an empty lot, sell
or rent it, than to pay thousands of dollars to have it
demolished, he said.
On this particular day, near midnight, Brownie was getting
into his work clothes and thinking ahead to his next
assignment -- a 2:30 a.m. move of a house at 381 S.W. Buswell
Ave. near Prima Vista Boulevard.
Before the appointed time, Brownie, his brother, Tim, and
two of his four sons, 26-year-old Jeremy and 23-year-old
Jarrett, converged at the scene to await two police patrol
escorts and a two-man Adelphia Cable crew.
Brownie has been moving houses for about half a century. He
looked almost bored as he inspected the three-bedroom house
that previously had been raised with a unified hydraulic
jacking system.
After handling monumental moves -- such as taking an entire
Burger King restaurant weighing 550 tons from Jensen Beach to
Port St. Lucie, and relocating a 540-ton cigar factory in Ybor
City -- this particular 140-ton brown house did not appear to
pose much of a challenge.
Jeremy Brownie, who appears to be next in line to carry on
the family's house-moving tradition, said he sees a challenge
in every move.
"We've never had an accident since the business began in
1922," said Jeremy, who then walked to a nearby mailbox and
knocked on wood.
As one of the nation's oldest companies specializing in
moving buildings, Brownie Moving & Heavy Hauling has the
intricate task down pat. The Brownies constantly are on the
move. The family acquired Masonry Movers Inc. in Tampa a year
ago to expand its operation base in the state.
But the Brownies' reputation for expert and efficient
structural moves transcends Florida's borders. They have
successfully moved historical structures in New Orleans, La.,
Salem, Mass., East Hartford, Conn., and Southhampton, N.Y.
Typically, the cost of moving a structure is about $40,000,
and the Brownies' services are so much in demand that they do
not spend much time at home in St. Lucie. Despite their many
moves, the Brownies' safety record is impeccable.
"My dad will make bets with people that he can leave a
glass of water on a table or counter top and it'll still be
there when the house is moved," Jeremy said.
After the off-duty officers, who are paid by Brownie, took
their positions on Prima Vista Boulevard with their patrol
cars' lights flashing, the move finally got underway in the
dead of night.
2:45 a.m. -- Behind the wheel of a payloader tractor, Tim
Brownie pulls the 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom and
two-bath house -- which sat on wheels -- from the lot.
2:59 a.m. -- Police patrol cars block and detour the few
cars out late in the night as the house on wheels exits slowly
onto Prima Vista from Dorchester Street.
3:30 a.m.: The haul inches toward its destination almost
three blocks away.
4:15 a.m.: Brownie and sons flank the house on wheels that
juts into the front lawns of homes on both sides of Hibiscus.
They communicate with each other by whistles that broke the
silence of the night. Whistles also told the driver when to
stop.
4:45 a.m.: Brownie's sons dig up mail boxes and plant them
back again ("People wake up in the morning and never notice
anything out of place," Jeremy says as the load proceeds).
5:10 a.m.: Workers use front loaders to place iron plates
to protect lawns ahead of the load. It's a tight squeeze in
places and sometimes the wheels of the transporter climb onto
the curb.
6:09 a.m.: Daybreak.
6:30 a.m.: Police escorts departed.
6:45 a.m.: A bare-chested neighbor picks up the newspaper
at his driveway. He turns to his left and sees a house moving
in to the lot next door.
"You guys did a great job," he says. "There's not a single
blade of grass out of place."
7 a.m.: Kim and Tim Brownie use front-end loaders to push
at one end of the house still on wheels so it will front the
street.
7:01 a.m.: Jarrett whistles and waves to Kim and Tim to
stop pushing. Jeremy stoops under the load and adjusts the
angle of the wheels.
7:05 a.m.: Pushing resumes.
7:15 a.m.: The front of the house, with curtains still on
the windows, faces the front.
7:20 a.m.: The gang takes a break for coffee, juice and
sandwiches.
By now Brownie's other two sons, Jamison, 23, and Jed, 25,
have joined the fray.
"Our mother wanted all of our names to start with a J,"
Jeremy said. "Jamison and Jed will work the day shift."
There still was plenty of work to do, but Brownie would let
his boys handle it. The steps taken to raise the house for the
move, now had to be done in reverse to lay it down on its
foundation.
"It's going to take me three days to recover from last
night," Brownie said.
- carlos.galarza@scripps.com
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Copyright 2004,
Scripps Treasure Coast Publishing Co.
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