MANSFIELD — Richland County Land Bank Executive Director Amy Hamrick said Wednesday it appears clean up work at the former Westinghouse site along East Fifth Street may be complete by the end of November — assuming no more underground pits are found.
Demolition and cleanup on the sprawling former Westinghouse site began in December 2022, including the former “A” building at 200 E. Fifth Street and the adjoining 13-acre “concrete parcel.”
(Below are recent Land Bank photos of the former Westinghouse site in Mansfield, including a fake “coyote” placed at the site to try to prevent geese from eating grass seed that has been placed on the ground.)
It’s still perhaps a year away from being ready to be redeveloped, according to the Land Bank.
The site is a $6 million project that has largely utilized state grant funds and American Rescue Plan Act dollars from the City of Mansfield and Richland County.
Hamrick said a written proposal by former Mansfield resident Marquis Stillwell and his OpenBox company in New York City has been received that would allow him 12 months of exclusivity to develop the site on the city’s near-east side.
He met with Land Bank board members in August.
The proposal is undergoing legal review and will be the subject for discussion at the next Land Bank development committee meeting.
“I am really excited to be here,” Stillwell told the Land Bank board members in August. “This is about having the access to due diligence. We’re not asking for anything beyond that. We’re not asking for money.”
His development career spans across two decades, and “his curiosity for people and spaces developed into a passion for designing systems to make environments better for all people,” according to his website.
“Our vision is to develop what we are calling Lower Downtown, a new kind of place where we will have spaces to live, work and play. These components will create a vibrant hub that’s 360-degrees connected to the rest of the city,” said Stillwell, who launched his presentation by talking about his childhood memories in the city.
“We’re not going to go into the specifics of the space, because there is still a lot research that we need to do,” said Stillwell, who said he has been working and thinking about the site for the last 18 months.
