The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
DEMOLITION BEGINS
Stoveworks site to be cleared
The end is here for some of the structures and piles that have become eyesores at the Stoveworks site in central Lorain.
On Sept. 8, a demolition crew led by contractor Johnson Laux Construction of Ohio began tearing down what’s left of an existing 33,000-square-foot building on the 5.25-acre site, 1200 Long Ave.
The crew also will clean up piles of rubble in a project that should be completed by the end of October.
Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer said scraping what’s left off the site marks a significant step forward for that part of Lorain.
“We’re really happy that it’s finally being addressed,” Ritenauer said.
The project was slated to
“We’re really happy that it’s finally being addressed.” — Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer, on the demolition of the former factory
start Sept. 10, so starting on a Saturday morning two days earlier was a surprise, he said.
But the city administration would not say no to starting early, Ritenauer said.
“It couldn’t have been soon enough,” the mayor said. “This has been an issue in central Lorain for decades.”
The project manager is IAP Government Services, and TRC Environmental Solutions of Cleveland will do remediation work at the site.
The job will cost more than $1.24 million, paid for by the city with Community Development Block Grant money, said Kellie Glenn, city director of building, housing and planning.
“We’re trying to put our money to good use,” Glenn said.
The work has generated some surprise, she said.
“A lot of people were like, we didn’t think this was ever going to come down,” Glenn said. “With the support of Mayor Ritenauer, it’s coming down.”
Glenn noted the city owns and controls the western section of land at the Stoveworks.
The city does not own the easternmost area of the property that fronts along Long Avenue, she said.
Old Lake Properties LLC, a company of Lorain businessman Don Buchs, owns the land from the intersection of Long Avenue and West 13 Street, north to the railroad tracks, according to Lorain County Auditor’s records.
As for future use, the city does not have an exact plan for the site, Ritenauer said.
“What I do know is, something that has plagued that neighborhood for years, is going to be addressed, and that is certainly a good thing for the city,” he said.
The mayor conceded it may become a grassy lot.
But choosing between a dilapidated building or tall grass, “I’ll take tall grass every time, because of what a vacant building brings,” Ritenauer said.
Stoveworks history
The site and its history in Lorain was described in a June 15 spot slum and blight study prepared by Lenz Planning & Development Services of Westlake.
It is posted among the legislation on city of lorain. org.
That study included citations of research by local historian Dan Brady, who has an online blog about Lorain County history.
Brady called the Stoveworks “an overlooked part of Lorain’s early industrial history, overshadowed by the steel mill, the shipyard and Thew Shovel.”
“In 1893, the National Vapor Stove Company transferred its factory and headquarters to the buildings it had construction on the site,” the study said. “In 1907, a fire destroyed the facility, but it was rebuilt quickly.
“For a time, the plant flourished,” as shown in an “elegant” postcard photograph of the National Stove Works.
The study included a historic 1948 aerial photo of the factory.
“This depicts a bustling commercial site with smokestack, and a thriving residential area surrounding it,” the study said.
It was to last less than a decade longer.
“By 1954, the Direct Action Stove Company, successor to the National Vapor Stove Company, determined to close the Stoveworks plant,” the study said. “Despite efforts by the Lorain mayor to negotiate a takeover by the Magic Chef Company, the Stoveworks site was permanently closed.”
Blight now
Contemporary Lorainites will not be surprised at the conclusions of the blight study.
The site, “once a proud 19th century industrial facility,” has been a dumping ground for waste.
“As it is now, it can never return to the obsolete manufacturing methods for which it was constructed,” the study said. “It defines ‘obsolescence.’”
One photo in the study pictured construction debris and a steel beam lying on the site.
“Scenes like this seem to go on forever at the site,” the study said.
Apart from the materials stockpiled there, the site is an “attractive nuisance,” with its grounds accessible, but largely shielded from view.
That creates a risk of criminal activities and trespassers would face unsafe conditions, according to the study.
The conclusion was direct: “There is no doubt that the deterioration of the Stoveworks site has a severe negative effect on the interest of potential homeowners to buy, and existing owners to sell, single family properties in the area.”