Richland County Land Bank accepts donations of Westinghouse 'A', Ocie Hill buildings
The Richland County Land Bank Wednesday voted to become owners of two buildings — the Westinghouse "A" building at 200 Fifth St. and the Ocie Hill building at 445 Bowman St.
The Ernie Coffman family, the owner of the property at 200 Fifth St., donated the building, land bank manager Amy Hamrick said.
Mansfield City Council recently passed legislation on transferring the shuttered Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center to the land bank.
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The mission of the Richland County Land Bank is to make a positive, sustainable impact on the local community by strategically acquiring vacant and abandoned properties, reducing blight, and returning them to productive use, improving the quality of life for county residents.
Hamrick said after the land bank meeting, held at the Richland County Courthouse lower level floor, that no decision has been made on whether or not to demolish either of the two buildings. Ocie Hill has been used over the years as a school and after-school program/community center.
The new state budget includes $500 million to clean up brownfield sites and tear down old industrial and commercial buildings, along with residential structures. Each of Ohio's 88 counties will receive $500,000 for demolitions and $1 million for brownfield remediation, Hamrick said.
"After 88 counties get $1.5 million, that leaves like $360 million for us to then go back and ask for," Richland County Treasurer Bart Hamilton said earlier.
Hamrick said the forthcoming state guidance on how exactly the money can be spent will determine next steps for big projects like Ocie Hill and the former Westinghouse building on Fifth Street.
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For clarification purposes, the former Westinghouse building has a legal address at the county auditor's office of 200 Fifth Ave., Hamrick said.
The board also is in negotiations with the owners of 17-plus acres of the neighboring concrete property along Fifth Street. Hamrick said the land bank has ordered a Phase I environmental study of the concrete portion.
Hamrick said there is one little catch with the "A" building due to unknown issues.
"Back in 1914 there appeared to be two tanks that had Naphtha (a solvent) in the ground. The building was built in 1919," she said. "So basically no way of knowing if the tanks were removed? Were they emptied? Were they just filled with sand? Are they still there under the building? We won't know ... until we dig it up or demo the building. The plaster throughout is all asbestos; the windows, asbestos."
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Hamrick said that soil borings were done around the edges. The building takes up the entire parcel, she said. "There's still a lot of unknowns."
Hamrick said that two local historical specialists Alan Wigton and Scott Schaut have recommended the "A" building come down.
"Neither feel there is enough historical significance left in the building," she said. Hamrick said she included their comments in a required "106 Review" to the state historical preservation office.
Westinghouse Electric Products Co. began in Pittsburgh in 1886. The Mansfield plant opened in 1918 and underwent changes in ownership until the sprawling factory was closed in 1990.
The Mansfield plant is known for many firsts, including a toaster that turned bread mechanically, a fully automatic electric range, an automatic electric iron, ranges in colors, an upright freezer, a frost-free refrigerator, nonstick-finish fry plan and coin-operated laundromats in 1953.
There were 125 employees at Westinghouse's Mansfield plant in 1918, but it grew to more than 8,000 in the 1940s. There were 1,000 when the plant closed in 1990.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County Land Bank accepts donations of two buildings
