St. Joe’s Demo Project Gets $3.4M Brownfield Grant
WARREN, Ohio – A project to demolish and remediate the former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital is slated to receive $3.4 million through the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program, Gov. Mike DeWine’s office announced today.
The Trumbull County Land Reutilization Corp., more commonly known as the Trumbull County Land Bank, is listed as the recipient of the funds.
Community Development Director Michael Keys says the property in the short-term would be revitalized into landscaped greenspace after the building comes down and the site cleaned.
“With this money, we’ll have enough to do the project and do a lot of enhancements there,” he says. These amenities include new lighting, benches, and walking paths that compliment the location along the Mahoning River.
The $3.4 million compliments another $2.5 million that the state had earlier awarded the project. “We estimated that the entire project would cost around $5 million,” Keys says, including consultant costs.
Mayor Doug Franklin announced last week that bids have been opened for the project. Eight of nine bids were accepted and the city is currently reviewing those proposals.
“We expect to be under contract in about a month and work is expected to be completed by the end of the year,” Franklin told guests attending the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s Good Morning Warren breakfast held at Trumbull Country Club on April 22.
Among the companies submitting proposals were: Servpro, based in Warren, which submitted a bid of $3.849 million; Milburn LLC of Bellwood, Ill., which submitted a proposal of $7.624 million; Dore and Associates Inc., of Bay City, Mich., which submitted a bid of $3.891 million; B&B Wrecking and Excavating, Cleveland, submitted a proposal of $5.319 million; Bauman Enterprises, Garfield Heights, delivered a bid of $4.761 million; Pro Quality, Campbell, submitted a bid of $3.755 million; Miller Yount Paving Inc., Cortland, presented a bid of $4.293 million; and Dawn Inc., Warren, bid $3.840 million.
The property has been an eyesore to the community for decades.
Built in 1920s, the hospital expanded to 12 buildings on a campus that encompasses 15 acres along Tod Avenue.
The hospital closed in 1996 after Mercy Health – then named Humility of Mary Health Partners – acquired Warren General Hospital on Eastland Avenue. The site was sold several times with none of the owners developing the site. In 2015, foreclosure proceedings were initiated against the building’s owner at the time and, in 2019, the state took possession of the property.
Last year, the state transferred the property to the Trumbull County Land Bank.
The program also funded a second Trumbull County project — a $3,878 award to assess environmental conditions on a 135-acre site originally occupied by Van Hufffel Tube Co. that is today used for warehousing and manufacturing by Trumbull Industries.
DeWine’s office also announced a $1.18 million grant to remediate the former Maryland School property in Columbiana County.
The local projects are among 78 initiatives funded with $60 million in brownfield grants during the first round, according to DeWine’s office. Of that amount, $54.8 million is directed toward cleanup projects while $5.5 million in funding is earmarked for environmental assessments.
“These hazardous, decaying sites – some of which have been vacant for decades – are barriers to economic growth and community revitalization, but now, we’re going to help breathe new life into these areas,” DeWine said in a statement. “The projects we’re funding today will not only revive these sites for new development, but they’ll also improve quality of life and open the door for exciting new opportunities for the citizens of our state.”
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
