http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/iseco/112004611529230.xml?iseco&coll=2

 

Promising article about Cleveland bringing one of its own back from Chicago to start a brownfield land-banking program.  He sounds capable and ambitious...both things we need!

 

However, as promising as this sounds, Cleveland doesn't exactly have the best track record for aquiring delinquent/blighted properties and turning them around for profitable/productive use.  Case in point: the Whiskey Island lighthouse.  Maybe they'll be better under a new format. 

 

Anyone know how the City's residential land-banking program is going?

Trinity clean-up cost: $2 million

Thursday, January 12, 2006

By DAVID PLATA

West Side Sun News

Up to $2 million in city funds is expected to be approved to hire a consultant to oversee environmental clean-up and demolition of the Trinity Building, a 1920s-era structure that once functioned as an aluminum foundry.

 

The vacant five-story building, at 9203 Detroit Ave., sits on a nearly 6-acre site.

 

The property is one of two sites bought by the city last year with an eye to creating an industrial land bank to attract industry and jobs to Cleveland.

 

Legislation to hire HZW Environmental to provide technical help and environmental oversight was introduced Monday and is expected to be approved in two weeks.

 

This will allow for the complete remediation of environmental conditions in the building _ the removal of asbestos and demolition of the building and cleaning up of the site, said Councilman Jay Westbrook, D-18, in whose ward the property is located.

 

Although a figure isn't specified in the legislation, Westbrook said up to $2 million is to be approved to hire HZW.

 

The company will oversee the work of additional firms to be hired for the project.

 

Westbrook said the city is still in discussion with about four companies interested in redeveloping the site.

 

One of those is Energy Wise Systems, a year-old company in Brooklyn, Ohio.

 

More at http://www.cleveland.com/sun/

I think it is too bad that they aren't rehabbing that building for lofts.  It also seems like an odd place to do a new industrial use.  It is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. 

 

Also, I hope that this building for Energy Wise Solutions isn't the only thing they are hoping to put on that land, but one of a series of office/industrial buildings.  This is far too expensive an operation to blow the land on such low intensity use when it is turned over.  A 50,000 square foot building on 6 acres is just better than 1/6th lot coverage.

It is an outstanding structure, but from what I've heard, it's been stripped of pretty much everything of value and the condition of the structure is bad enough (including the environmental contamination) that it would cost too much to do an adaptive re-use.  I don't know how much I buy into this, but it seems to be the case in a few other examples as well (55th & Euclid comes to mind). 

 

Brook Furio (USEPA & City of Cleveland Brownfields) told us a story in class about a guy who came to one of the public meetings for this site and demanded that he be allowed to reclaim all of his cars that were in the building.  The guy had apparently been running an illegal chop shop on the first three floors and the safety concerns got to be so significant that they locked the whole thing up and he was all miffed about it.  Furio & others told him that even if they did let him back in the building, the elevators had been stripped of all their wiring, so the cars on the upper floors were a lost cause anyway.  What a ridiculous situation!

 

Personally, I'd love to see this building re-used, perhaps as the centerpiece of a sizable "village" of housing and creative or light manufacturing space.  (Think the Pabst development in Milwaukee) Thing is, these sites are all over Cleveland, from the Midland Steel site to Battery Park and the East Side's St. Clair Superior (Tyler Village) neighborhood.  Battery Park is the only one that's actually moving and even that involved the demolition of all but one of the old industrial buildings. 

 

How about some photos?  Ok!

 

Welcome to the Ferry Cap & Screw (Trinity) site!

The west side of the building, with the sign posted by the City of Cleveland:

What's left of the site:

 

 

A glimpse of the neighborhood directly west along Detroit...several Middle Eastern specialty shops, a housing complex and in another couple blocks you'll find the W.98th Street Red Line station:

 

HA!  I never knew that the Trinity was the Ferry Cap & Screw sited. I am very glad that something will happen to this area.  I agree that it would make a great site for housing, but if the best that we can do is an industrial use, then so be it.  It is the worst portion of Detroit Ave. 

He said Energy Wise plans to spend $3.2 million to build a 50,000-square-foot office and warehouse building. The project, moving the company to the new site, would retain 15 jobs and create 35 new ones.

 

All this for 50 jobs? So what?

 

It really is a much better site for housing with a mixed use component facing Detroit Avenue.

cant this thing be seen from the rapid?  the site is in really really bad shape.  i would say much worse than E55th and Euclid.  reminds of the structure across from the Kmart on W65th south of Lorain

^That's the one. When I've ridden the line with different visitors from out of town, they almost always comment negatively on that site when we pass it.

 

It's a big piece of land that is very visible. That's why I wonder why 50 jobs is the best they can do. I'm sure there will be other uses at some point, but unless the industrial site is going to need rail access, why keep this as an industrial site?

 

Again, (like Steelyard Commons) here's an example of the missed opportunities that happen when Cleveland lacks a citywide land use plan to better take advantage of adjacent land uses and transportation systems. Just as the Steelyard Commons site deserves to be industrial given the extent of proximate rail, water and highway access, this site on Detroit Avenue deserves to be a mixed use site with the dominant feature being housing.

 

Sigh.

As others have pointed out, the mentioned company probably will only occupy a portion of the entire site.  I don't see Cleveland investing all that money just so that they can create a hand full of jobs. 

I wish Detroit Avenue (like middle Euclid, Carnegie and Chester) had a form-based zoning overlay that would prohibit an Applied Technologies-style suburban monstrosity from being located on this land. As MGD notes, it is just a couple blocks from the West Boulevard rapid station, and whatever gets developed here should be transit-oriented. I'm not opposed to industry at the site, but particularly if it's clean industry let's also incorporate retail and residential in the plans, and have the buildings right up to the street. It's all about mixed use folks!

From today's Crain's

 

City preps Detroit Road site for razing

Trinity Building set as first demolition for industrial land bank

 

By DAVID BENNETT

 

6:00 am, February 6, 2006

 

The first piece of Cleveland's industrial land bank initiative soon will fall into place. Literally.

 

City officials are preparing contracts to begin demolition of the Trinity Building, a former aluminum factory at 9203 Detroit Road. The property, which the city acquired in 2004 through tax foreclosure, is the first up for reuse in the city's plan to assemble and reuse industrial land in Cleveland.

 

Cleveland City Council Jan. 23 approved legislation authorizing the hiring of HzW Environmental Consultants LLC of Mentor, which will manage the cleanup, said Belinda Pesti, Cleveland assistant economic development director and manager of the project. Money to pay for the $2 million project will come initially from the Core City Fund, a city program for economic development projects.

 

Ms. Pesti expects bids to go out soon on the environmental assessment work, the actual demolition and cleanup. The effort involves razing the 250,000-square-foot building plus two smaller buildings, removing asbestos and cleaning up the surface soil. The city leveled an aluminum foundry on the site when it took control of the property 18 months ago.

 

The administration of former Mayor Jane Campbell in 2004 launched the land bank program to entice expanding companies to look at Cleveland rather than surrounding suburbs. The Trinity Building is only one of two sizable acquisitions currently in the city's industrial land bank inventory. The other is a 21-acre parcel at 10615 Madison Ave. that was home to the former Midland Steel Products Co.

 

Although the primary building at the Trinity site is still months from being removed, at least one company has eyes on part of the six-acre property. Joe Gallo, president of Energy Wise Building Systems of Brooklyn, said the company hopes to erect a 50,000-square-foot headquarters and production plant on at least one acre there.

 

More at http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5258381/City-preps-Detroit-Road-site.html

 

Consider that EnergyWise Systems is not just any ordinairy company but a high performance builder that enables homes to be constructed quicker, less expensively, more solidly, and perhaps most importantly, homes that can be operated for far less money in our crazy climate.

 

Consider what all of this means for future construction projects as well as consumer purchasing power.  Their manufacturing process does not seem very intrusive and would likely not affect nearby residences.  Seems like a winner to grow a new Cleveland.

 

http://highperformancepanels.com

 

Definitely a winner in many ways.  Having a local supplier like this will encourage developers to invest in more of this high performance technology.  (I'm assuming that was part of your point, guv?)  There's still a stigma attached to "green" building in Northeast Ohio (and elsewhere) that it's not worth the cost, but as it becomes more common and more readily available, it will become clear that the cost savings over time and the allure of the "green" market niche is worth the investment.  Also, the more common the practice and materials become, the more they will become the norm...ie: no more expensive than the alternatives!

I hate to see a building like this razed in some ways, but from what I've heard it's beyond salvage. Also, the fact that there is interest from another company justifies its removal. Let's hope the new building is constructed to good urban design standards, so it fits into its dense surroundings.

From Crain's

 

Flats parcel eyed for city land bank

 

By JAY MILLER

 

8:44 am, March 6, 2006

 

The city of Cleveland is preparing to market a two-acre piece of land it owns in the industrial south end of the Flats.

 

Greg Huth, director of the Department of Economic Development, said the city will put the long-vacant property, which has an old building on it, into the city’s industrial land bank after any environmental problems are cleared up.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060306/FREE/60306002&template=printart

From a small article in Crain's that wasn't in the online version:

 

Cleveland was awarded $750,000 by the state to help clean up the Trinity site.  It also said that Energy-wise will be locating there. 

The $750k is a big boost...I'm curious about the Energy-wise tidbit, though.  Do you think that's for real or still speculation?  I'd love it if it were true!

With the way that it was worded, it appears that they will be constructing their facility at the old Trinity site. That would be great news.

A little more info from the Plain Press:

http://www.nhlink.net/plainpress/may2006/articles/04-detroitave-cleanup.php

 

Detroit Avenue industrial site receives funds for cleanup

 

The site of the former Monarch Aluminum/Trinity Building at 9203 Detroit Avenue is now slated for cleanup for redevelopment. On Monday, March 27th, the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund (COAF) announced a $750,000 grant has been awarded for brownfield remediation activities at the site.

 

Energy Wise Building Systems, LLC, a manufacturer of energy-efficient panelized building systems, plans to invest approximately $3.2 million in a new office/warehouse facility on the 5.6 acre site, owned by the City of Cleveland's Industrial Land Bank.  Energy Wise Building Systems is a member organization of the Westside Industrial Retention and Expansion Network (WIRE-Net).

 

More at http://www.nhlink.net/plainpress/html/stories/2006-05/detroitavenuesitecleanup.htm

Region banking on land cleanup Creating land bank difficult, yet needed

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Christopher Montgomery

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

EDIT:  Article removed, no link, and article no longer on cleveland.com

i have a request: can we get some more photography from over there quick before the teardown?

 

rundown and hulking or not, that factory is quite iconic. and after all, it is a part of our old industrial heritage, it deserves some photographic documentation at least before it goes bye bye. thx.

Looks like they're moving on the Midland Steel site...

 

From City Planning's DRC draft agenda for this week:

 

1.  Ordinance No. 827-06 (White/Ward 2): Authorizing the Director of Economic Development to apply for and accept a Clean Ohio grant from the State of Ohio Department of Development for the VAP Phase II assessment of property located at 3828 East 91 St Street and associated parcels; and authorizing the Director to enter into one or more contracts with Garland Industries Inc. to implement the project.

 

More action on the brownfields front...from Crain's:

 

Three sites seek assistance from environmental funds

 

By JAY MILLER

 

6:00 am, May 29, 2006

 

Three Cleveland properties are in line for environmental cleanup money to help bring them back to life.

 

Two of the projects will help business expansion plans move ahead. The third will help assess how much it will cost to turn a former factory site on the city's West Side into housing.

 

In the residential project, the state of Ohio has awarded the city a $152,290 grant for an assessment of the environmental problems at a former paint factory that was destroyed by fire at 8001 Franklin Blvd. Rysar Properties Inc. of Cleveland would like to turn the former Acorn Chemical Co. plant into 18 to 20 townhomes, said company president Ken Lurie.

 

Rysar currently is transforming an adjacent three-story office building into Painters' Lofts, a condominium building where units start at $136,000. Mr. Lurie said 13 of the 20 loft units have been sold.

 

 

 

More at http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-146496786.html

 

From the Mayor's office:

 

City of Cleveland to purchase Midland Steel property

Purchase shows progress in Mayor Frank G. Jackson's development strategy

May 30, 2006 - The City of Cleveland announced today the purchase of the 21-acre Midland Steel property located at 10615 Madison Avenue. The City worked with Ward 18 Councilman Jay Westbrook, WIRE-Net (Westside Industrial Retention and Expansion Network) and Cudell Improvement, Inc.

 

"One of Cleveland's economic development challenges is the lack of ready-to-build land that is attractive to developers," said Mayor Frank G. Jackson. "The remediation of brownfields, like Midland Steel, is an essential part of our economic development strategy for Cleveland. We're making this valuable property ready for development."

 

Cleveland will purchase the property, valued at $1.5 million, as a part of Cleveland's Industrial/ Commercial Land Bank that prepares shovel-ready sites for development and makes it easier and cost effective for businesses to relocate to or expand in Cleveland. The City's Department of Economic Development will market and sell parcels, to spur economic growth and job creation in the region. Revenue generated by the Land Bank will be invested in future acquisitions and development.

 

"This is an example of the kind of role government needs to play to help business grow bringing land, labor and capital to the table," said Director of Economic Development Brian Reilly.

 

The Midland Steel site has contiguous parcels, excellent infrastructure, highway and railroad access, and a tradition of industrial use.

 

"It is essential that we extend our capability to retain and expand industry in Cleveland," stated Councilman Westbrook. "Our community partners, Cudell Improvement, Inc. and WIRE-Net, have worked diligently with the City to obtain the Midland Steel site. We welcome this announcement by the Mayor and look forward to working together to broaden manufacturing job opportunities for the future."

 

"The redevelopment engine has been tuned up, and manufacturing is ready to move ahead," said John Colm, President and Executive Director for WIRE-Net, in reference to the Midland Steel deal.

 

"This site has been on our radar screen as an important economic opportunity since it became vacant a few years ago. The community's desire to see this site redeveloped for businesses is moving closer to reality," added Paul Vernon, President of Cudell Improvement, Inc.

 

In May 2004, Councilman Westbrook identified Midland Steel as a prime economic development opportunity for Ward 18 in Cleveland City Council Economic Challenges and Opportunities, a booklet highlighting problems and potentials in each ward. Mayor Jackson, who was City Council President at the time, directed the Council to produce the document to help advance development throughout the City. The book was also used on a tour of the City that Council Members took to get a first hand look at the challenges and opportunities citywide.

Article Removed

I'm posting this Crains's article here, as it discusses the move of this fast-growing company into one of two sites that are currently part of the Industrial Land Bank.  It addresses one of the questions/issues noted earlier in this thread, namely the size of the facility needed (now 100,000 sq. ft., larger than 50k originally proposed).  But it still leaves the big question mark, which site will be used: Midland Steel or Trinity.  Hopefully, if they keep growing this fast, they can buy up another similar site in Cleveland in a few years.

 

 

Energy to spare

Panel systems maker's move to Cleveland site born out of heavy demand for products' high efficiency

 

Energy Wise employees Eddie Diaz (left), John Herring (back) and Ron Johnson maneuver one of the company's wall panel systems. The 20-year-old company is relocating this month from Brooklyn to Cleveland, and will have sales totaling $4 million this year.

By DAVID BENNETT

6:00 am, July 10, 2006

 

Inside the cavernous Terex Building on Clinton Avenue in Brooklyn, workers last week were forming polystyrene panels earmarked for a home development in Texas.

 

In the middle of the activity, Joe Gallo, president of Energy Wise Building Systems LLC, stepped into a house trailer — one of two trailers that sit inside the Terex Building and comprise the corporate headquarters and engineering offices of Mr. Gallo’s company.

 

More at:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20060710/REG/60707024

wow...uplifting story about an up-an-coming cleveland company!  they should do even better with the new local initiatives that are aimed at promoting the types of buildings that they have been contributing to. 

hah oh man, the owner is a real shady guy.  he was in the paper 2 years ago with his crooked handlings as a partner in the ownership of The Avalon Event Center in North Royalton.

Clean costs Site prep set at $4 million

Thursday, October 05, 2006

By David Plata

West Side Sun News

The cleanup of the former Midland Steel site, which the city bought this year with an eye to developing an industrial land bank, is estimated at $4 million.

 

This authorizes the expenditure of funds to fully remediate the site, to complete the demolition and remove environmental hazards and bring it to a standard for industrial reuse, Councilman Jay Westbrook, D-18, in whose ward the property is located, said of legislation approved Monday.

 

Midland, a more than 100-year-old company that once made frames for the Model-T Ford, went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and shut down three years ago, leaving more than 200 people out of work. 

 

The 21-acre site is at West 106th Street and Madison Avenue.

 

Valued at $1.5 million, the city bought the property this summer for $750,000.

 

More at Cleveland.com/sun

 

 

Demolition is well under way, with all buildings at the site _ with the exception of the former administration building, which will be preserved _ already torn down.

 

Which building is the admin one?

Update from the City's website:

 

City of Cleveland, Cudell Improvement, and WIRE-Net launch demolition of the Trinity Building at 9203 Detroit Avenue

 

October 26, 2006 – This afternoon, Mayor Frank G. Jackson and City Councilman Jay Westbrook (Ward 18), alongside Cudell Improvement, Inc., WIRE-Net, businesses, residents and stakeholders in the Cudell community launched demolition of the Trinity Building at 9203 Detroit Avenue. Representatives from the Cuyahoga County Department of Development, the Ohio Department of Development, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were also on hand to give remarks before a bulldozer plowed into the 170,000 square foot, brick building.

 

“When the business left and the jobs left, the neighborhood was left with a symbol of neglect,” said Mayor Jackson. “By tearing it down we are saying that we will not tolerate blight, unpaid property taxes, and illegal dumping and that we are committed to improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods.”

 

More at http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home/PressRelease/prdetail?id=400

 

I don't think that this was part of the Industrial Land Bank per se, but it's still good news I think.  From cleveland.com:

 

Contaminated land in Cleveland cleaned for reuse

Posted by Donna J. Miller July 26, 2007 07:44AM

Categories: FYI

Another brownfield has been cleaned up in Cleveland for redevelopment.

 

An oil refinery and salvage yard used to occupy the 24-acre Kinbess property at East 80th Street and Kinsman Road. in Cleveland. Buried drums, underground storage tanks, pipes and petroleum-contaminated soil has been removed and replaced with clean fill, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday.

 

More at:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/07/contaminated_land_in_cleveland.html

Hopefully It will lead to some much needed development there.  The park is such a great asset, and parts of the area have great homes.

 

I just don't want to see anymore developments like Herron Row at Kingsbury, "which offers suburban style living with city flair".  These homes, rather mansions, belong in Cleveland or Shaker Hts.

Herron Row was done years ago.  Not saying it couldn't happen again, but I think that the community development professionals in this city are much more sophisticated in matters of urban design than they were in the mid 90's when any new housing in the city seemed a miracle.

I don't think that this was part of the Industrial Land Bank per se, but it's still good news I think.

 

That's just the site that was originally for the Hemisphere development, but is now for the new CMHA HQ.  Kinbess is connected to Hemisphere.

From gcbl.org:

Progress on a local food network

Posted in Gardening Green infrastructure | Local foods and markets

Submitted by Marc Lefkowitz on February 20, 2008 - 3:39pm.

 

What can heal city land tainted by twentieth-century industrial practices and provide an economic boost to Cleveland’s struggling inner-city residents? The answer could come from the growing ranks of urban agriculture entrepreneurs —as well as a new, well-positioned initiative—who look to restore the ecological function of land that Cleveland once reserved for industry.

 

Just as Ice Age glaciers receded and revealed a fertile landscape along the southern shores of the Great Lakes, the industrial age has left a legacy of tainted land and abandoned blue collar neighborhoods. But, the abandonment of city land also reveals a new opportunity.

 

“Cleveland has some new pockets of urbanity separated by voids or parcels of empty land,” UDC senior planner Terry Schwarz said during her presentation. “Some have become green spaces, but (having) a lot of land is perceived as blighting. So, how do we deploy vacant land so it’s productive?”

 

A growing rank of urban market gardeners and a new, well-positioned green infrastructure initiative hold a lot of promise, as 200 attendees at Entrepreneurs for Sustainability monthly networking meeting discovered last night.

 

More at http://www.gcbl.org/food/local-foods-and-markets/progress-on-a-local-food-network

 

Follow-up to the above.....

 

 

I think this could be a potentially big move in helping out the east side. Would this make it easier for a change of use (residential on former industrial)? Or at least it should help bringing new industrial space onto formerly industrial property.

If this had been passed earlier would it have made it more likely that the owner of the property on Scranton would have sold to SHW for their R&D?

Edited June 18, 20204 yr by cle_guy90

43 minutes ago, PoshSteve said:

I think this could be a potentially big move in helping out the east side. Would this make it easier for a change of use (residential on former industrial)? Or at least it should help bringing new industrial space onto formerly industrial property.

 

It won't reduce the costs of cleanup, but it will reduce the legal risk of cleaning up.

 

33 minutes ago, cle_guy90 said:

If this had been passed earlier would it have made it more likely that the owner of the property on Scranton would have sold to SHW for their R&D?

 

Not necessarily. Scranton-Averell doesn't always return phone calls even when it is in their best interest.

This is huge for Greater Cleveland and other cities with vacant, dirty former industrial properties.....