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Richmond Heights Cleans Up Abandoned Gas Station
The new year started with a bang in Richmond Heights, as the wrecking ball finally fell on the abandoned Sunoco gas station at the intersection of Richmond and Chardon Roads . Years in the making, this demolition was a joint effort between the City of Richmond Heights, Cuyahoga County, US EPA, and the Cuyahoga Land Bank. “Through the collaborative hard work, planning and budgeting of each partner, we were able to demolish the structure that had come to symbolize decay in our city. Now that the building is gone and the site is clean, the property has become a source of pride and hope for good things to come," stated Christel Best, Richmond Heights Economic Development Director.
Vacant and abandoned for over a decade, the old gas station was a glaring eyesore at the entrance to the city. Unseen environmental issues, including leaking underground storage tanks, were  present at the property requiring remediation. Having no surviving owners, real estate taxes went unpaid for years resulting in a tax foreclosure against the property that later forfeited to the State of Ohio.
To accomplish the project, the city received a two hundred thousand dollar grant from the US EPA Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund and eighty thousand dollars from Cuyahoga County Demolition Program. Cuyahoga County Councilwomen Sunny Simon commented, “This is an important project for Council District 11 as well as the entire County. Cleaning up this property has opened the door to future economic development and growth. I am dedicated to working with the City of Richmond Heights, the Cuyahoga Land Bank and Cuyahoga County to support such projects through the US EPA Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund.â€
The Cuyahoga Land Bank agreed to doing and overseeing the demolition and clean-up of the property. With the invaluable assistance of Karla Auker from US EPA and Janise Bayne from the Cuyahoga County Department of Development, the Cuyahog a Land Bank navigated this project through a complex web of grant program requirements and state and federal regulations.
After the underground storage tanks were removed, the Cuyahoga Land Bank acquired title to the property and transferred it to the city. Once final site finishes are complete and all the clean-up paperwork has been turned in, the city’s revitalization of this key location will begin. The Mayor of Richmond Heights David Roche gladly stated, “The Cuyahoga Land Bank demonstrated effective leadership and management of the demolition and remediation project. The completed project greatly enhances the potential for future development of the local business district. This project was a successful team effort that now affords our community benefits that will last many years into the future.â€
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A Lofty Idea
Kevin Malone Sr. worked as a construction contractor all of his life. Working with his hands, he raised his family and sent them to college. Kevin’s two sons, Kevin and Colin both graduated from college and entered the work force; one as a mechanical engineer and the other a sound engineer specialist.
As dad began to wind-down his career, his boys came to him and said, “Dad, we are getting tired of sitting in a cubical behind a computer trading time for money. We want to get into the business with you!†And so began a new partnership involving dad and his two sons who just completed their first “Loft Home†renovation in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. “The house is simply beautiful. It is artful, it is quality and it is just plain cool,†said Cuyahoga Land Bank President Gus Frangos.
The single-family home was in the Cuyahoga Land Bank’s inventory slated for demolition. Instead, the home will become a “quality rental product in the emerging St. Clair-Superior neighborhood†according to Real Estate Specialist Andrea Bruno of the St. Clair-Superior Neighborhood Development Corporation who helped recruit the Malones to the neighborhood.
The Cuyahoga Land Bank initiated “Loft Homes†as a pilot project to see if it could work. While getting off to a rocky start with a prior contractor, the Malone Brothers have figured out how to turn these homes into quality lofted homes at an inexpensive price using recycled and existing quality materials from these older homes. “Our business model is to create quality loft homes in a targeted area, rent to eligible tenants and create a market for future resales,†said Kevin Malone. “I was about to ease up on my work schedule, but instead, I now have the joy of working eighty hours a week with my sons,†said Kevin Malone, Sr., the proud father. “We are having a lot of fun doing this,†he added.
There are two other homes the Malone family will be completing in April or May. The Cuyahoga Land Bank and the “Malone Maestros†have expanded the Loft Home pilot to include up to three more homes that were originally slated for the wrecking ball.
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