Golden Acres walls to come down starting Aug. 1

AMHERST TWP. — Excavators are now scheduled to start tearing down the long-vacant Golden Acres Nursing Home on Aug. 1, according to Lorain County Facilities Director Dan Gross. That date could shift a couple days in either direction, pending weather and other logistical considerations, he said. Demolition of the 91-year-old North Ridge Road building had originally been slated for a June 1 start, but removal of asbestos had pushed it to mid-July. The discovery of even more of the carcinogenic insulation — "the hidden stuff" — inside pushed back demolition from mid-July, Gross said. Fences are likely to go up around the site early next week, he said. Neighbors will see machinery staged outside the building ahead of demolition. The Lorain County commissioners voted this spring to pay $238,500 to A1 Land Development LLC of Rock Creek in Ashtabula County for the job. Gross said the powerhouse located just a stone's throw to the east, where electricity was once generated, also will be razed. Golden Acres was not always a nursing home. It was built in 1931 as Pleasant View Sanitorium for the treatment of tuberculosis, a disease that was once prevalent among workers of the area's sandstone quarries who inhaled large amounts of silica dust. "God knows what they went through at the time, with no protection at all. It was a hard way to make a living," said Sandy Kaiser, director of the Amherst Historical Society. Nearly all vestiges of the building's legacy will soon be swept away. Gross said A1 Land Development may be able to save some of the building's elaborately engraved stonework and possibly its cornerstone, but little else. There are rumors that a time capsule exists in the cornerstone, and workers will be on the lookout, he said: "We want to make sure it doesn't become scrap." Furniture, fixtures and anything else that could be salvaged was already removed and sold at auction. What didn't sell was mostly donated to local Rotary Clubs to be shipped to developing nations, where it can be repurposed. Gross said demolition is unlikely to be a simple or easy process. Under its soft sandstone facade, Golden Acres is a steel structure reinforced with concrete, which also makes up the floors. Asbestos-related cleaning of the property and air sampling are expected to wrap up this week. All that will remain then will be to disconnect the power, Gross said. County commissioners have not specified any plans for the land, which has been for sale for years. Commissioner Matt Lundy said there have been "less than reasonable" purchase offers over the years that have been rejected. There have been proposals to turn the building into a history museum, a paranormal ghost-hunting center and the Recovery One addiction treatment center. The latter didn't move forward after voters rejected a levy to finance it. The commissioners at one time were prepared to set lots facing Route 58 for development of a gas station, but the plan fell through because the Ohio Department of Transportation nixed the creation of turn lanes, Lundy said. Now inquiries about the property have become rare, he said. Investors before were interested in the land but wary of the liability posed by the Golden Acres building itself, Lundy said. "We made many efforts to sell the property, and even donate the property," he said — the Lorain County Metro Parks, for example, wouldn't accept the donation of the land while the structure still stood. That may change once demolition is complete. Lundy said he believes county commissioners will try to strike while the real estate market is hot, though they still have decisions to make about whether to split the land into multiple parcels for sale. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.