Final push underway to clean up St. Joseph site

LORAIN — Site work has started on the final push to clean up the former Lorain St. Joseph hospital site. The long-vacant property at the intersection of Broadway and West 21st Street had tall grass mown by the city on Tuesday in anticipation of debris removal by a contractor expected to start within the next month, city Storm Water Manager Kathryn Golden said. City crews did not remove trees rooted in the debris, Golden said, because the material is considered contaminated with asbestos and improperly digging up the trees would disturb the carcinogenic material. The St. Joseph's site has languished in the center of the city for about a decade — first as an abandoned hospital, then as the remnants of a botched demolition that started more than four years ago. The parking deck, mounds of rubble and debris shoveled into the remnants of basement rooms, have remained since the city issued a stop-work order in March 2021 to demolition company Earth Exchange Inc. after finding it never sought the proper permits for all the buildings it had torn down. Earth Exchange Inc. was tied to the property's owner at the time, A7 Development Corp. The site has been vacant since 2015, when other portions of the medical center were torn down. The buildings demolished in 2021 housed the former hospital main entrance until the late 1990s and later political offices and the Veterans Affairs clinic. Foreclosure proceedings are underway against An Haoi Tran, a Florida-based businessman who purchased the property from A7 Development Corp. for $150,000 in 2023. There are $1.7 million in delinquent real estate taxes and assessments owed on the parcels. Once the foreclosure is complete, the Lorain County Land Bank will take ownership. In the interim, Golden said, environmental contractor Verdantas will start asbestos abatement work on the parking deck and the co-mingled debris piled on a third of the property. At the same time as the abatement, there will be bids solicited for the demolition of the parking garage and the concrete foundation remaining from the building, Golden said. That demolition is expected in the first few months of 2026. The demolition does not include recently boarded-up former doctors' offices off Reid Avenue. The city received credit for the funds it spent to remediate the site over the past 20 years, which will meet the $1.5 million local match required by the Ohio Department of Development to use the $6.5 million in brownfield redevelopment funds granted to the city last year. Part of that credit includes the fill dirt that will come to the St. Joseph site from the nearby Stoveworks property, Golden said. Residents can expect to see simultaneous work at both central Lorain properties, with city workers helping move the clean dirt that was stored by the prior owner of the Stoveworks property from West 13th Street and Long Avenue to Reid Avenue and West 21st Street. The St. Joseph site will be remediated to meet commercial standards, Golden said, and is expected to be completed by mid-2026. The Stoveworks, due to the funding used to demolish the remains of the industrial site in 2016, must be remediated to a higher level to allow for affordable housing. The city received $11.3 million in state brownfield remediation funds to clean both properties. Pellet Terminal Work continues on the city's waterfront as well. The $15 million revitalization project for the eastern shore of the Black River and the lakefront will see a park, riverwalk, improved accessibility and revamp of its aging boat ramps – paid for through a mix of federal grants, congressional earmarks and American Rescue Plan Act funds. The Pellet Terminal site, nearby Finger Piers and Hot Waters public boat launch are all set to be completed by Memorial Day 2026, with contractors working throughout the recent drought to meet that deadline, Golden said. Concrete work is underway at the Pellet Terminal site, which will see pedestrians able to walk along the waterfront to Black River Landing, and vehicles accessing the site from Washington Avenue behind City Hall. Lighting along the footpath will match the streetlights on Broadway, she said. The lights and railings on the riverwalk are expected to be installed by the end of the year. Work at Hot Waters boat launch will start later this month, Golden said. Contractors will be replacing the pavement down to the waterline but will not drain the area to replace the ramp under the water due to the cost, she said. The new concrete above the waterline will have improved traction for vehicles launching boats through grooving, she said, and the configuration of the launch area is changing to make it easier for trucks or SUVS to back up to the dock. The defunct floating dock at Hot Waters also will be replaced. Four boats will be able to launch at a time from the two ramps that will be floating docks with aluminum gangways — rather than the wooden gangways there now. The floating docks are expected to be installed in the spring. The new design includes three 20-foot lanes and one 28-foot lane, with the smaller lanes a requirement due to the storm sewer that runs beneath the launch. The existing pavilion will move to one of the Finger Piers and a fish-cleaning station paid for by a $600,000 Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant will be built nearby. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.