MANSFIELD — The Richland County Land Bank has been awarded a $1 million grant to tear down the former West Park Shopping Center.
The award was announced Thursday afternoon by the Ohio Department of Development as part of $61 million in brownfield grants to help communities in 75 counties around the state clean up contaminated properties.
The Land Bank applied for the funds earlier this year after Dan and Brenda Niss, local business owners and entrepreneurs, agreed to buy the decaying former strip mall along the Park Avenue West “Miracle Mile” from the New Jersey-based Namdar Realty Group.
The demolition will abate asbestos on the property and demolish a long-vacant section of the deteriorated West Park Shopping Center, according to the ODOD’s announcement.
“Subsequent phases include developing modern commercial space along Park Avenue. The cleanup will eliminate a condemned structure, support revitalization of a struggling corridor, and enable redevelopment projected to generate new jobs and substantial tax-base growth,” the state said in announcing the award.
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry, who inherited the West Park problem when she took office in 2024, said Thursday afternoon the announcement of the grant was exciting.
The city had initially ordered the property, including its massive parking lot, to be demolished in September 2022 during the administration of former Mayor Tim Theaker. Namdar officials battled those orders for nearly the last four years.
“It’s certainly the next step we needed to have happen to get to the next stage, which is the demolition,” Perry said.
Niss, who paid $1 million to buy the site from Namdar, said he shared in the excitement.
“That (grant award) is what we have been waiting for,” Niss said Thursday afternoon. “Once we get it demolished, we will see how the property looks. The second step will be figuring out what goes in there.
“We have a couple of ideas. But to be honest, I have not given it a lot of thought until it gets torn down,” Niss said.
A member of the Land Bank board, Perry said the board previously signed a contract with Niss to facilitate the demolition at the 17-acre site, including a massive parking lot.
“The city will be a part of that also, in terms of any matching funds needed,” she said.
The mayor said the city has met with FirstEnergy officials about power lines at the site that will need to be removed as part of the demolition. She said she hoped demolition could still begin this year, depending on contractor availability.
“There are some caveats,” Perry said.
Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero, also a member of the Land Bank board, said the seven-figure award from the state “shows the respect the state has for the work that the Richland County Land Bank does.”
The Land Bank also received a $3 million state grant in 2022 to demolish the former Westinghouse site in Mansfield.
“We’ve been involved in pretty high profile and significant demolitions. I think it’s a good sign that the state believes that we will continue to do good work and select the right places to demolish,” Vero said.
“It’s been well documented the struggles the city had with the former out-of-town owner,” Vero added. “Anytime you can get property in local control, thanks in a significant part to Dan Niss and his generosity, it’s an opportunity to control your own destiny.”
Vero said the Land Bank board is excited to get to work on the project.
“There’s been some discussions as to what can and what will go in out there,” Vero said.
“That’s always a much more exciting discussion than, ‘How do we get the building out of the hands of a non-local owner who don’t always have Mansfield’s and Richland County’s best interests at heart?'” he added.
In announcing the purchase in January, Niss said he doesn’t have concrete plans for the former West Park Shopping Center.
He and his wife, Brenda, simply saw a need to help the community they love.
“It’s been such an eyesore these past few years,” Niss told Richland Source at the time. “We felt like we should do something with it and help clean up that area.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel and ODOD Director Lydia Mihalik announced the statewide grants on Thursday.
The Department of Development is awarding this funding as part of the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program. The latest round of funding includes $45.8 million for 84 cleanup and remediation projects and $15.3 million for 76 assessment projects.
“Sites like these do no good when they’re left alone to contaminate the soil and impact the health of our neighborhoods,” DeWine said. “Throughout the past five years, we’ve changed the trajectory of hundreds of properties that once held our communities back, turning long-neglected eyesores into places of possibility.”
Since its launch in 2021, the Brownfield Remediation Program has provided nearly $780 million to support 841 projects in 87 counties.
“Any time we’re able to take a forgotten property and give it new life, it opens the door to new opportunities for the people who call that community home,” Tressel said. “When we transform these sites, we’re investing in stronger local economies, stronger neighborhoods, and a stronger future for communities across Ohio.”
