St. Joseph Community Center, Stoveworks receive $11.3 million in state brownfield remediation funds

LORAIN — Two long-blighted properties in Lorain received state brownfield remediation grants. The former St. Joseph Community Center and Stove Works sites received a combined $11.3 million in state funds for further cleanup and remediation on the properties. Both grants will be managed through the Lorain County Land Bank. This is the second round of brownfield remediation dollars the city has received for both projects. Both grants require a 25 percent local match, Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion said. The bulk of those local match funds will be through in-kind contributions such as waste removal, rather than cash. "We've had a rough week, so to end the week on this note is fantastic," Carrion said, referencing a storm earlier in the week that downed trees and left thousands without power for several days. "Just more positive outcomes are emerging here in Lorain and we're thrilled — a lot of these issues have been in the works for years, the seeds have been planted and now we're seeing things come to fruition." In an email statement, Mayor Jack Bradley agreed with Carrion's enthusiasm and pledged to clean both sites. Lorain's grants were part of $102 million awarded for 35 remediation projects across the state by the Ohio Department of Development. St. Joseph St. Joseph Community Center, formerly St. Joseph Hospital, received $6.4 million to finish demolition and cleanup at the Broadway and West 21st Street complex. The site has languished, first as the abandoned hospital, then as piles of rubble alongside the still-standing parking deck since March 2021, when the city issued a stop-work order to demolition company Earth Exchange Inc. after finding it never sought the proper permits for all the buildings it had torn down. Earth Exchange walked away from the job, and later, then-owner A7 Development sold the property to current owner An Haoi Tran. The cleanup will include asbestos abatement, demolition of the remaining structures and removal of the contaminated debris, according to a news release from the state, with the site prepared for a potential mixed-use development, including law enforcement facilities. Lorain Storm Water Manager Kathryn Golden said the city worked with the county Land Bank to submit the applications for both sites and act as the subrecipient for the Stoveworks project. For the St. Joseph cleanup, a nonprofit related to the property's current owner, An Haoi Tran, will be the subrecipient, but will be working with the city to get the site ready for redevelopment. Golden said the subrecipient agreement will see An Haoi Tran and his nonprofit spend their own funds on cleanup, and submit for reimbursement from the grant. "The real intention of all of the parties involved here — the city, county, state — is to get the site cleaned up so it's ready for redevelopment," Golden said. "The only way it benefits any of us is if it is a productive property that's bringing in tax dollars so everyone at all levels (has) an interest in ensuring this is successful." An ongoing foreclosure against An Haoi Tran will not impact the grant, Golden said, as tax foreclosures against property owners are not uncommon in these situations. The Lorain County Treasurer filed against An Haoi Tran and any previously interested parties in late 2023, seeking more than $1.2 million in back taxes and assessments. The case remains in court, with the delinquent taxes and assessments continuing to grow. Golden said as long as the city continues to have access to the site and remediation can move forward, the grant will continue. "There's no other reasonable way for us to get these sites cleaned up," she said. In addition to the grant, the city committed a matching $500,000 toward the cleanup, Golden said, plus in-kind services of hauling away material and providing topsoil and fill dirt. She expects the cleanup to take about two years. In 2022, the city received $195,750 in state brownfield funds for environmental assessments. St. Joseph Hospital closed in 1997. The property sat vacant for several years before becoming home to St. Joseph Community Center, which shuttered in the early 2010s. Stoveworks Looming in central Lorain for decades, the Stoveworks site at Long Avenue and West 13th Street must be turned into affordable housing due to the $1.2 million Community Development Block Grant funds the city used to tear down the skeletal remnants of the factory in 2016. Once clean, the property will be home to 70 owner-occupied affordable housing units. To get it there, the site has seen a hodgepodge of funding thrown its way, including the original CDBG funds to tear it down and a $100,000 grant from the Nord Family Foundation to purchase part of the eastern Stoveworks site from local contractor Don Buchs of Old Lake Properties in 2021. In 2022, Lorain received $709,167 in brownfield grants for further cleanup and remediation. Stoveworks originally opened in 1894 as the National Vapor Stove and Manufacturing Company, producing heaters, stoves and furnaces. Operations ceased in 1954 and the area was home to other industrial uses until it was abandoned in 1981. The latest $4.8 million will get the project across the finish line, Golden said, including remediating piles of concrete, soil and underground structures, as well as soil sampling to prepare for redevelopment. She said the Stoveworks remediation will be complete in less than a year once work starts. PORT, a Chicago- and Philadelphia-based design firm, was hired in the fall of 2020 to plan the next life of the former industrial site, including soliciting input from area residents and stakeholders on what they would like to see done. While initial designs included an apartment building — to some City Council members' dismay — the most recent designs discussed in 2021 looked toward single-family homes. Work on both sites will need to meet Ohio EPA remediation standards for the type of development planned on the lots. Stoveworks is required to meet a higher remediation level due to its end-use as housing, Golden said. "Ultimately, these are two really problematic properties in the city and they'll be green and ready to go for development," Golden said. "It's really a win and we're excited." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.