Ohio earmarks $52M for demo and brownfield projects

The Ohio Department of Development has announced the recipients of more than $52 million in state financial support for brownfield remediation and building demolition projects. 

The state agency is awarding funds through the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program and Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program, with those programs developed to create room for new economic opportunities in areas that currently cannot be developed due to contamination or the presence of vacant, dilapidated structures.

The October announcement spells out details in the sixth round of funding for both programs. 

The new Demolition and Site Revitalization grants total more than $23 million and are poised to help demolish 292 structures in nine counties.

Projects in Franklin County, where Columbus is located, have received the most funding in the recently announced round, at nearly $7 million, followed by Montgomery County, which includes Dayton, at $5.3 million.

The newly announced Brownfield Remediation grants total more than $29 million and will fund cleanup and site preparation work at 36 brownfield sites in 23 counties.

Nearly $10 million of that total will go toward the remediation and redevelopment of the former Terrace Plaza Hotel, which it calls “a historically significant part of Cincinnati’s Central Business District.”

Once remediated, the building will be redeveloped into residential apartments, retail spaces, restaurants and a public parking garage.

In nearby Linwood, another $4.7 million will go toward remediation and demolition work at what the state calls “a blighted industrial structure” that used to house a machine tool company. At the site, portions of the existing buildings will be demolished to be redeveloped into 271 multifamily apartments

A $1.5 million allotment will go toward abatement, remediation and demolition work at the former Middletown Paperboard plant in that southwestern Ohio city.

“The project involves asbestos abatement and the demolition of deteriorated structures on a 3.6-acre property that once housed paperboard manufacturing operations,” according to the state.

Nearly $500,000 in funding will go toward asbestos abatement and demolition activity at the former Manchester Pants Factory in that southern Ohio town. The former apparel manufacturing site has been vacant since the 1980s and poses health and safety risks, according to the department.