Big demand for state brownfield grants across Cuyahoga County, including Midtown Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cleveland firm hopes to redevelop the contaminated Accurate Plating site between Carnegie and Cedar avenues in Midtown and use it to lure a high-tech manufacturer to the blighted Cleveland neighborhood.

Rico Pietro, a principal with Crooked River Equity Partners, said his firm intends to seek a grant from the state’s recently announced $350 million Brownfield Remediation Program to mitigate the environmental contamination at the former plant at 6512 Carnegie.

The plant has been closed for many years, he said, and it’s located in a section of Midtown that has not seen the level of revitalization that the Euclid and Cedar avenues between downtown and University Circle have experienced.

Pietro said an occupant, which he declined to name, has been lined up for the site, which includes a 35,000-square-foot building that would need an extensive overhaul.

“This would be a manufacturing operation in a high-growth sector,” Pietro said, adding that it could eventually bring one hundred jobs.

Crooked River Equity Partners is one of a growing number of local developers hoping to take advantage of the state brownfield program, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Ohio Departent of Development provided brownfield grants through the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund from 2002 to 2013.

The Cuyahoga County Department of Development has signed off on five applications that can be sent to the state for consideration and is currently processing another four. Several others are in the pipeline to meet the Jan. 31 deadline for the first round of funding.

Pietro called the state’s brownfield program a “godsend” for revitalizing the southern end of Midtown Cleveland. He said the assistance from the state is necessary to make a location competitive with ones in the suburbs and that revitalization of the Accurate Plating site could serve as a gateway for more development along Carnegie and Cedar.

Redevelping the Accurate Plating site would be significant in that it takes up the entire block between Carnegie and Cedar, said Richard Barga, vice president of economic development for MidTown Cleveland, which works with the city and others to promote development.

“It’s a really, blighted environmentally contaminated site,” Barga said, and the chance that it can be returned to productive use is encouraging.

Pietro said Crooked River Equity Partners will be seeking less than $1 million for remediation that would involve “mitigation of the plating pits that were used through the plating process.”

To apply for a brownfield grant, developers must first obtain a “cooperation agreement” from the county or the city where they are located. Such an agreement means the local government has conducted a review of the environmental work to be performed and that the application can then be submitted to the state for consideration.

The grants will be administered by the state on a first-come, first-served basis, although specific criteria must be met. The program sets aside $1 million for each county to provide grants that cover up to 100% of an applicant’s request. After that, approved grants will cover up to 75% of the cost.

Interest in the state’s brownfield program, announced in December, has been intense in Cuyahoga County, according to officials with its Department of Development.

Demand “has been pent up for a good many years,” said Jan Bayne, a brownfield specialist with the county.

Crooked River Equity Partners and several other developers have already obtained cooperation agreements, while several other firms have pending requests for cooperation agreements.

Among those awaiting approval from the county is Bridgeworks LLC, which is seeking funds to remediate a site at the corner of West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue in Cleveland where it plans to build a 15-story tower that includes hotel rooms, apartments and a bar/restaurant.

Frontline Development Group is seeking an agreement for an environmental assessment of property at 1507 E. 66th Street. The property is part of a larger plan to build single-family homes and mixed-use buildings on vacant land near old League Park in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland.

Sheila Wright, president of Frontline Development Group, said four grants will be sought to conduct environmental assessments.

Also, a company called Symba & Snap LLC is seeking an agreement from the county in order to submit a grant request for asbestos removal at the former Goodwill building at 2295 E. 55th Street in Cleveland. The developer of the project is listed as Internal Food Solutions, an affiliate of Symba & Snap, and the building would be used for poultry production and processing.

The firm’s application for a cooperation agreement states the project will create more than 200 jobs and involve an investment of more than $40 million.

Yet another firm asking for a cooperation agreement is WXZ Development Inc. It would use grant money to remediate the former Ferry Cap & Set Screw Co. on Scranton Avenue the Flats. Plans there call for residential and commercial uses.

Cuyahoga County has already approved cooperation agreements with several other organizations interested in obtaining brownfield money. They are the following.

* MetroHealth System, which is seeking help remediating 1.5 acres on West 25th Street to allow for senior housing and a headquarters for the hospital’s police department.

* Hawthorne Elementary Partners LLC in association with Sustainable Community Associates, which hope to obtain a grant for asbestos removal and demolition at the former Nathaniel Hawthorne Elementary School at 3575 W. 130th Street where the plan is to build apartments.

* Sustainable Community Associates, which wants brownfield aid to help renovate the Park Synagogue complex at 3330 Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights for what has previously been described as “an intergenerational community of new users on the campus, possibly including the arts, culture, education, housing, and human services in any number of combinations.”

* The Foundry Project, which wants brownfield aid to develop a mixed-use plan at 2469 East 71st Street in the vicinity of the Opportunity Corridor that would include art studio space, a CBD grow operation, a fish farm and tech support center.

Separately, Mary Divito, economic development director for Bedford Heights, said recently that Bedford Heights expects to submit an application to the state for $1.3 million in brownfield money to clean up the site of the former Metaldyne plant on Cannon Road.

Also, Brook Park Mayor Ed Orcutt said his city is working with a development group to seek a brownfield grant to remediate the former Ford Engine Plant No. 2.