MANSFIELD – The president of Thompson Marble and Granite has high hopes for a former Richland County Land Bank property in Mansfield.

When Jamie Shiro was introduced to the building at 728 Park Ave. E. by the land bank – a countywide organization that works to reduce blight and return properties to productive uses – he saw potential to create a showroom for the countertop business.

“I have a pretty good imagination as far as what can be done or can’t be done,” Shiro said. “So, I saw that the building had good bones to it.”

He also saw that it needed new siding, windows and a portion of the roof replaced, but that didn’t bother him.

The biggest challenge Shiro has encountered so far is an underground tank. He explained that the building was likely a gas station for some time, and the tank needed removed before the property could be repurposed.

After seeing Shiro’s interest, the Land Bank worked to take the tank away, so that when Shiro took ownership of the property in November the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency had cleared it for other uses.

Since then, Shiro and his family have been working to clean up the space. They have already hauled away five dumpsters.

“There were strange things in there like 22 toilets, 42 rolls of carpet, very odd things,” Shiro said.

He wonders if it had housed a wholesale business previously.

Shiro’s contractor, Young Custom Homes will soon begin exterior work, meaning Thompson Marble and Granite could open its showroom in as little as three months.

Thompson Marble and Granite is based in Perrysville, where it makes monuments, countertops and more. The Perrysville location will remain open, and the Mansfield location will serve largely as a showroom with display kitchenets and shower stalls.

In Mansfield, customers will be able to pick their own slab of granite, something that Shiro says is not common in this area. They will also be able to meet with someone about memorial and monument designs.

The Perrysville location will continue to serve customers as it has in the past and will remain the fabrication point for the Mansfield location.

Shiro became involved in Thompson Marble and Granite about two and a half years ago. He previously worked as a granite distributor, where Thompson Marble and Granite was a customer.

“We made a deal for me to come over and run the countertop division and at some point buy that part out,” Shiro said.

Shiro grew up in California, but now resides in the Crestview school district with his family.