Top stories of 2022: Bye bye Westinghouse, West Park Shopping Center and Kingsgate Cinema
The News Journal is counting down the year's top stories. Today we look back at the plans to raze several local landmarks that after being abandoned for years have become eyesores.
6. The Westinghouse "A" Building
Demolition on the former Westinghouse building on East Fifth Street began on Dec. 19 and is expected to take six to 10 weeks.
Members of the Richland County Land Bank board worked throughout the year on the former Coffman building. Work on the removal of the historic doorway began in December. The doorway was removed by WR Restoration of Twinsburg, erecting safety measures above the doorway to protect workers from the potential for falling bricks while removing the stone door frame.
More: Monument proposed for Westinghouse, Mansfield manufacturing history
The historic doorframe at the Westinghouse "A" Building is being proposed as a monument at the site to honor Westinghouse, manufacturing in Mansfield, the history of women in the workforce, and the "Westinghouse Girls" who worked in the "A" Building.
Land Bank manager Amy Hamrick said that on Nov. 23 a section of the exterior brick pulled away and fell from between the fourth and sixth floors of the Westinghouse building, along the corner of East Fifth Street and the railroad tracks, falling mostly along the railroad site.
Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was in Mansfield to announce the first round of the Ohio Department of Development Brownfield Program awards, providing funds for demolition and remediation of the former Westinghouse "A" building and the concrete slab along West Fifth Street. The governor announced the Mansfield project is getting $3 million for cleanup of petroleum tanks and hazardous materials and demolition. City and county funds, in the amount of $500,000 each, also were made toward the project.
DeWine was invited to an invitation-only event on Dec. 19 to watch the demolition, Hamrick said.
The Richland County Land Bank awarded the demolition contract for the former Westinghouse building to R&D Excavating of Crestline in August. The company's bid was $3.9 million.
The land bank is the owner of the former Westinghouse building on East Fifth Street and its adjacent 14 acres. Westinghouse Electric Products Co. began in Pittsburgh in 1886. The Mansfield plant was built in 1919 and over the decades underwent changes in ownership. The sprawling factory was closed in 1990.
5. West Park Shopping Center and Kingsgate Cinema
It was a historic year for the city on improvements to eyesores.
The owner of the West Park Shopping Center notified the city of Mansfield they will demolish the dilapidated, vacant portions of the property at 1157 Park Avenue West.
The demolition does not include the easterly businesses alongside of the Safe Auto Glass, according to Marc Milliron, Mansfield's building and codes manager.
In September, the News Journal reported the city of Mansfield Building and Codes had given notice to the owner of West Park Shopping Center that they have 60 days to make a plan to repair or demolish part of the dilapidated shopping center on Park Avenue West.
Earlier, Milliron said that the property owners, West Mansfield Realty LLC of of Great Neck, N.Y., were notified on Sept. 16 following an inspection on Sept. 14.
An attorney for the owner of the property joined online via Zoom the City Planning Commission on Dec. 13 to request additional time to complete the demolition.
The commission Dec. 13 granted the extension which means the West Park Shopping Center must be demolished by July 14, 2023. The commission will follow up with the owners to make sure the property is going to be demolished to dirt and grass seed as opposed to the concrete slab.
Adam's Demolition Services of Maryland is the demolition contractor.
The demolition order, dated Nov. 14, states the property "has been deemed unfit for human habitation due to unsafe and unsanitary living conditions," in violation of minimum sanitation stands of the ordinances for the city of Mansfield. "You are hereby ordered to vacate said premises by Jan. 14, 2023...."
Two years ago, the News Journal reported that two-thirds of the stores sat empty, their windows painted black. Maintenance of the property has fallen off to the point that in July 2019 the city gave the mall's New York owners 30 days to fix numerous safety issues or the mall would be condemned, spurring the owners into action.
The appearance of the complex, for years a bustling center of activity, is a far cry from the $2 million, 20-acre shopping complex that opened in 1952, hailed in News Journal archives "as the first suburban shopping center to be built in this area."
From the Ground Up contractors began demolition earlier this month on the Kingsgate Cinema.
Skilken Gold Real Estate planned to rehab the building but plans to demolish the old Kingsgate Cinema on Park Avenue West changed.
Eric Elizondo, senior vice president of operations, updated Mansfield Planning Commission at its meeting in November, saying he previously told the commission that Iron Pony Motorsports of Westerville was interested in rehabbing the Kingsgate property and adjacent JCPenney.
"We're still in negotiations," Elizondo said. "We were hopeful that we were going to be further along."
But plans to open a new Iron Pony Motorsports site in Mansfield fell apart.
"We want to proceed with the demolition of 1300 (Park Avenue West)," Elizondo said. "Iron Pony was going to renovate, but that's not in the cards right now. Things have changed quite a bit."
The Iron Pony company sells motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, scooters, electric bikes and various other vehicles, as well as vehicle parts, accessories and riding apparel.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
419-521-7223
Twitter: @LWhitmir
Tomorrow: The News Journal's countdown of the year's top stories continues with a look at the #4 and 5 stories of 2022.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: West Park Shopping Center demolition coming in 2023
