By Megan Sims, cleveland.com See Article
Mayor Justin Bibb address city leaders and partners about the future of the National Acme building, which will be demolished and remediated by the fall.Megan Sims, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The National Acme building on the city’s East Side is coming down thanks to state and city funding, and the mayor sees it as a huge redevelopment opportunity for Cleveland.
The massive vacant building on East 131st Street has languished for decades, but with the help of state and city funding, it will finally be demolished and remediated. The $11 million demolition project is expected to be complete by the fall.
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Mayor Justin Bibb, at a press conference on Thursday, described the site as a “rare development opportunity,” because local leaders hope to use the cleaned-up land to attract business and jobs back to Cleveland.
Attendees at Thursday’s event announced that the city has also acquired a neighboring parcel that once housed a Republic Steel fabrication center. That parcel is 22 acres and the Acme land is 13.3 acres.
Together, it amounts to 37 acres — a size that’s hard to come by in a city with few large open spaces that are ready for redevelopment.
“Today is not just about a brand new site for good jobs through our city,” Bibb said. “It’s a symbol of hope, a symbol of opportunity and a symbol of progress.”
He, along with other city leaders gathered at the Acme building, lauded the combining of the two parcels, which he said would be the largest industrial redevelopment site in the city.
Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel was also present to mark the start of demolition. The state awarded the project $7.6 million through its Brownfield Remediation grant. The city provided $3.5 million.
Tressel said the state invested in the site “so that we can be ready to give a home to that next generation of workforce.”
The clean-up includes asbestos removal, waste disposal and demolition of the remaining structures, along with soil remediation.
The Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund is spearheading the project. It was created using $50 million of $511 million the city received through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The fund aims to acquire 1,000 acres of vacant, unused or abandoned industrial sites around the city, with the goal of attracting 25,000 jobs over 15 years.
The National Acme building was built in 1917, and became one of the largest machine-tool manufacturers in the country before it shut down in the ‘90s.
Ward 8 Councilman Michael Polensek noted at the press conference that his uncle had once worked there. Polensek has long led the charge to demolish the abandoned factory.
In 2015, the owner of several Cleveland-area garbage hauling companies, Christopher Gattarello, pleaded guilty to violating federal environmental laws at the site. Gattarello had been using it to store thousands of tons of paper, cardboard waste and garbage. He had overseen the partial demolition of the building in 2012, which ended up releasing harmful toxins near homes and schools.
