MANSFIELD — Demolition is underway of the former Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center, a century-old building that served a myriad of purposes on Mansfield’s north side.
Workers from the Cleveland firm of C&J Contractors arrived on Monday and quickly got to work, according to Richland County Land Bank manager Amy Hamrick.
“They pulled in on Monday and started Monday afternoon,” Hamrick told Land Bank board members Wednesday afternoon. “So they’re going to town.”
The original $542,500 project, largely funded by an Ohio Department of Development grant, was approved for an additional $38,200 by board members on Wednesday due to additional asbestos removal.
Hamrick said the demolition company found 20,000-square feet of additional tile on the second and third floor that contained asbestos.
The gymnasium at the building was largely gone by Wednesday afternoon.
The project, which requires a 25 percent local match on the total cost, will return the lot to grass. The Land Bank will determine its redevelopment future after that.
The demolition project is funded as part of the Ohio Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program, developed to help local communities tear down dilapidated commercial and residential buildings and revitalize surrounding properties to attract investments, businesses, and jobs.
The ODOD grant is part of the $500 million statewide for demolition and brownfield remediation set aside in the two-year state budget last year.
That grant had required work to be completed by this summer. However, the state is now agreeing to extensions and has granted an additional year for work at Ocie Hill and also at the former Westinghouse property in Mansfield.
Hamrick said the work at Ocie Hill would likely still have met the original deadline.
“I believe we’ll probably get everything done except the seed and straw,” she said.
The century-old building on the property is named for Ocie Hill, the first Black resident to be elected to Mansfield City Council. Hill was also the longest serving individual on council in the history of Mansfield, serving from 1961 to 1991.
Throughout the years, the structure has been known as the Creveling School, the Mansfield Opportunities Industrial Center, the Human Resource Bureau and the Neighborhood Youth Corps.
The City of Mansfield purchased the building in 1988 and it was home to more than a dozen non-profit and government agencies. It also had a gymnasium used by children and hosted after school-programs like the Culliver Reading Center.
The city closed the building in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and it never reopened.
At the time, Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker said he was not optimistic the building could be saved, saying estimates to replace the boiler, windows, doors and other required work could cost several million dollars.
Mansfield City Council voted in 2021 to give the property to the Land Bank.
MANSFIELD — The Richland County Land Bank is making bricks from the recently demolished, former Westinghouse “A” Building available to the public free of charge.
Effective March 6, members of the public who wish to acquire a brick may find one on pallets, directly outside the fenced area surrounding the former Westinghouse site on East Fourth Street.
Bricks will be available Monday through Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (weather permitting), while bricks last.
Bricks are available on a first come, first served basis.
The Land Bank cordially asks individuals desiring a brick from the “A” Building to respect continued demolition taking place at the former Westinghouse site.
No unauthorized individual may enter the fenced area nor any active Westinghouse work area for any reason without express, written permission from the Land Bank.
