Neglected industrial building in the western part of Cleveland will finally be demolished. The city intervened after many years of complaints, fires, and environmental remediation work.
Donna Burgess moved to Cleveland's Stockyards in search of a better future — affordable housing in the West Side area that had not yet been gentrified.
But over 13 years, she saw the flip side: a derelict factory across the street.
Now, this long-abandoned building at the corner of West 73rd Street and Wentworth Avenue will finally be demolished. On Monday morning, a demolition crew stormed the old box factory site, and residents took photos and hugged each other.
The city is paying for the demolition as part of its fight against urban decay. After years of demolishing dilapidated houses, state officials are paying more attention to old industrial sites — and are using federal and state funds to cover the costs.
The building on Wentworth Avenue has been a source of complaints for many years.
"You go out of your house and don’t know what to look at," - says Burgess, who has seen fires, cascades of bricks, and a procession of squatters. "It stood there too long," she said.
Built in 1917, the brick building was long a home for a box and cardboard manufacturer. In 2009, the building was at the brink of destruction when it was subjected to a lien due to tax liens and confiscation. It was then bought by a light bulb recycling company.
This company eventually drew the attention of environmental regulators. In 2016, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency inspectors found inside millions of fluorescent lamps — many of which were broken. They accused owner George Dietrich of operating a hazardous waste recycling facility without a permit.
Two years later, after a fire, the EPA found the building contaminated with mercury and other harmful chemicals. The agency cleaned up the worst part of the mess, but the property continued to decay. It was broken into by thieves and inhabited by homeless people.
The demolition will cost $1.2 million. This includes asbestos removal, which the city has successfully completed. Funding came from federal pandemic relief funds, amounting to about $512 million allocated to the city through the American Rescue Plan.
Cleveland will bill the owner for the work, which is a non-existent company with a mailing address in Cleveland Heights. But the city is unlikely to recover anything. The bill will appear as a tax lien on the property, which is already subject to tax foreclosure.
It is a cycle that the city government repeats over and over. And this is what they are trying to break.
To prepare for the demolition, the city collaborated with nonprofits to relocate people seeking shelter in the building. Police and firefighters removed abandoned vehicles. The city also warned residents to avoid dust, close windows, and keep children away from the building.
Council member Jasmin Santana, representing this neighborhood, held a meeting with residents watching the demolition on Monday morning. Santana praised the residents for their persistence. She said the old factory had filled the entire Stockyards area, not just the surrounding streets.
The demolition is scheduled to be completed by mid-November. There is currently no clear plan for the site.
Court records show that in early 2023, the Cuyahoga County treasurer filed a foreclosure lawsuit due to unpaid property taxes. In November, a judge approved the forfeiture of the property. However, the property had not yet been auctioned off due to environmental threats, which must be disclosed during any sale.
