Thanks all who have contributed again. I managed to successfully remove the crankset and generally prep everything for a new one. Turns out the BB i have on the bike is too long and likely will need to get a shorter one to get a proper chain line.

On that note, I wanted to inquire about the rear wheel and hub spacing. I removed the cassette and have purchased a single speed freewheel, but as you can see in the picture the spacing is too far to the left as a result of it being a lot thinner than the original cassette. Now based on [MENTION=84826]randyjawa[/MENTION]'s excellent guide it appears I can simply respace the hub and re-dish the wheel so that the freewheel can be aligned with the crank. I did take it to the LBS as I was hoping they could help me with these last few steps but they seemed to suggest this was impossible without getting a new wheel and a chain tensioner, citing my "vertical dropouts" would be holding me back. Based on the above guide and most of the stuff I've read I feel like this is doable with the current setup and just some tweaking. Am I SOL as the LBS suggests? Was thinking I perhaps needed some spacers to plug onto the other side of the hub to slide it over, and then redish the wheel to straighten it out.

Attached are images for reference. Thanks in advance.