MANSFIELD — Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker announced Wednesday that Westinghouse’s former power plant will be demolished starting next Monday.
The long-awaited demolition comes at a crucial point and after years of pressuring the owners to raze it, Theaker said.
“It’s been an eyesore for a long time. We (the city) don’t own it, but we’ve put pressure on the owners through the EPA to demolish it because it started caving in in parts,” Theaker said. “And if it ever came down, it would cause dust that is hazardous to health.”
Mansfield Business Park LLC of Delaware, representatives from the EPA, an environmental firm, real estate agents, the demolition crew and Brian Kowalski from Mansfield Warehousing and Distributing met with city officials Wednesday morning to discuss details of Monday’s demolition.
Mansfield Business Parks LLC has owned the 18-acre concrete slab that used to house other Westinghouse buildings since 1999 when a local partnership sold it to them.
The local partnership bought the Westinghouse complex in 1991. In its heyday, Westinghouse employed nearly 8,000 people, said Theaker.
The former power plant, which sits between East Fourth and East Fifth Street just east of the railroad tracks in Mansfield, came close to demolition when Statewide Mansfield LLC, a Michigan company, assumed the role in 2010 after MBP hired it to handle the job.
Statewide then hired SOS Management and The Afcose Group for pre-demolition removal of asbestos. The work, however, was never properly done, Theaker said.
“They came in an basically harvested the metal (steel, copper and other valuable metals) and left,” Theaker said.
MBP filed a lawsuit in May 2013 against Statewide, SOS and Afcose and won a $1.6 million judgement in March.
According to court records, MPB filed another lawsuit in April seeking recovery of the $1.6 million through insurance companies Mount Hawley Insurance Company and Rockhill Insurance Company. MPB could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.
The 18-acre property where the Westinghouse complex used to sit is zoned for heavy industrial, according to Mansfield Economic Development Director Tim Bowersock.
He and Theaker said they would like to see the area be developed into a small industrial park.
“If the owners want to do something that will create jobs, I look forward to that. It’s a good area,” Theaker said.
The real estate firm involved with the demolition, IRG Realty Advisors LLC, did not respond to calls seeking comment. Kowalski, with Mansfield Warehousing and Distributing, also could not be reached for comment.
MPB subcontracted with Pinnacle Environmental Services Inc., of Cincinnati, sometime after Statewide allegedly left with the scrap metal. Consultants from Pinnacle joined Theaker and Bowersock Wednesday morning to discuss the demolition’s details.
The demolition crew, Site Tech, of Grafton, is expected to start the demolition sometime on Monday morning.
Because of the amount of hazardous material still attached to the deteriorating building, Site Tech is expected to work alongside environmental consultants from Pinnacle Environmental Services Inc., of Cincinnati, to undergo the proper procedures for removal.
MPB subcontracted with Pinnacle sometime after Statewide allegedly deserted the property with the scrap metal.
Some of the hazardous material, Bowersock said, could end up at the Noble Road landfill in Shiloh.
Site Tech did not respond to a phone call seeking comment for this story.
