The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Schools to be demolished; bricks available
The demolition of the vacant North Ridgeville Middle School, 35895 Center Ridge Road, will begin in late March.
Wilcox Elementary, 34580 Bainbridge Road, which also is closed, will meet the wrecking ball after the razing of the Middle School.
Matt Yunker, director of operations for North Ridgeville City Schools, said the Middle School was put in the abatement phase Feb. 12.
In the abatement process, crews will remove concealed asbestos in places like windows, floor tiles, chalkboards and insulation materials.
The demolition of the Middle School stadium has recently begun, he said.
Midwest Environmental, an abatement company of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Moderalli
Excavating, contracting company out of Poland, Ohio, are razing the school buildings.
Demolitions for both schools will cost $1 million and will be completed by the end of May, Yunker said.
After the district passed its bond issue in 2013 for the North Ridgeville Academic Center, 34620 Bainbridge Road, the new school was created and welcomed students from the closed schools for the 2017-18 school year, he said.
The Academic Center hosts grades 3-8 and has about 2,100 students, Yunker said.
Both schools had their final use in 2016.
The Middle School was built in 1927; Wilcox Elementary was erected in 1962.
The district hopes to sell the Middle School property.
However, the district will maintain the property at Wilcox Elementary.
To preserve the history of the schools and keep memories alive, 1,000 bricks will be saved from each school and distributed to anyone who wants one, Yunker said.
However, the district has not yet set a distribution plan, he said.
“A lot of history and people have been through those buildings,” Yunker said. “It’s kind of neat.”