Hess & Clark building demolition plans underway Plan includes construction of new data center Barry FortuneCorrespondent

 Barry Fortune, Correspondent

https://www.times-gazette.com/story/news/2020/11/09/hess-clark-building-demolition-plans-underway/6209884002/

With city council’s support, Ashland Mayor Matt Miller may have just found a solution for the Hess & Clark building, which closed its doors in 2003. Council approved the plan at an emergency meeting Wednesday morning.

The building will be torn down with plans for a new data center to eventually be built.

“That building has been deteriorating in the middle of our city for nearly two decades,” said Miller. “The building, after some grand plans from a few individuals, has gone into tax delinquency.”

Miller began establishing communications with the former owner in 2018 to simply give the property to the city.

“I did that so we could move forward with removing the structure,” said Miller. “After all, the structure is terribly unsafe. Some of the roof has collapsed and some of the floors are rotting through. The building is a public safety hazard.”

About a month ago, Miller began working with a developer whose company is based in California, but who himself lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“What this developer does is acquire property like the Hess & Clark building, tear it down to the concrete slab, then proceed to construct a data center on the location,” explained Miller. “So we began to talk to him about this property.”

Data centers are centralized locations where computing and networking equipment is concentrated for collecting, storing, processing and then distributing large amounts of data. Data center construction has grown to a $68.7 billion global market as the need for safe and secure distribution has increased.

After approximately a month of negotiating, the developer agreed to purchase the property for $100.

“From the city’s perspective, this is an unbelievable situation,” Miller said. “Not only are we going to see that building be removed and that public safety hazard being removed, but we are going to see the site re-developed. We are in the early stages, but that is the plan right now.”

The money saved by the city in not hiring a company to remove the building is another big win for the project.

“Over the past few years I have collected estimates for what it would cost the city to remove Hess & Clark,” said Miller. “And we were seeing estimates up to $1.4 million. We agreed to help with some of the additional expenses, but let me tell you, it is not a fraction of what we would have had to pay.”

“This is a wonderful thing,” said Ward 3 Councilman Dennis Miller. “We were looking at not just an eyesore, but a safety hazard as well. We were looking at estimates of over a million dollars just to tear it down and that would not have put anything on the place. This company likes to have sites that are already zoned properly and have all the utilities they need. It is just a God-send to the city. We could not have asked for a better scenario.”

Miller added that a city stipulation made is that they will sell the property for $100, but they will not turn ownership over of the property to the developer until the building is down to the city’s satisfaction.

“The reason we did that is we don’t want them to start tearing it down and then just walk away,” said Miller. “And then we spend the next five years trying to wrestle ownership just so we can deal with the property again. He did say he had never done a deal like that before, but he completely understood.”

The developer is Abacus Industrial Development and the company will bring in its own demo team from Pennsylvania. Expectations were to have an asbestos survey crew on the site last Friday and to have heavy equipment onsite by this Friday.

“They want to begin the demolition as soon as possible,” said Miller. “Their purchase agreement is to have the building down in four to six months, but they expect to have it done in much less time. In fact it could be done in as few as 16 weeks depending on the weather.”

After tearing the building down to the concrete slab the new structure will be put up. The building sits on 2.6 acres of land.

According to Miller, the data center site will be running 24/7, 365 days of the week and could have six to 10 full-time employees at the center.

“It is not a big-time job creator,” said Miller, “but we do get the site cleaned up and get it back on the tax rolls because there will now be a business on that location and even the 10 jobs adds additional income tax for the city. And we have another good looking building.”

Miller talked about the importance of protecting and preserving some of the building’s history.

“We talked to the crew about salvaging the cornerstones of the building for the historical society,” he said. “And to also possibly save the fireplace that would have at one time been Mr. Clark’s office.”

Miller said that 7th Street will be closed during the demolition, but be reopened when the project is complete. As of now there is no time frame for the construction of the new data center, but will be further discussed when the site is cleaned up.

“If all goes as planned, we will get that building down, get the site re-developed and to be able to avoid another big cleanup bill like we had with the Pump House,” said Miller.

Developer to purchase Hess & Clark building in exchange for demolition, cleanup

 

https://www.ashlandsource.com/business/developer-to-purchase-hess-clark-building-in-exchange-for-demolition-cleanup/article_98f66436-1ebb-11eb-96a7-4f08c600a507.html

ASHLAND -- The former Hess and Clark building is to be demolished within nine months and later replaced with a data center.

In an emergency meeting Wednesday morning, Ashland City Council unanimously approved selling the 10 East 7th Street property to Abacus Industrial Development for $100 in exchange for the removal of the decaying structure.

“We are told they will have people on site by the end of the week, and we will likely see heavy equipment there on Monday or early next week,” said Mayor Matt Miller. “This building should come down a lot quicker than the pump house came down.”

The decision eliminates what Miller calls a “public safety hazard” and prompts redevelopment at the former Hess and Clark site.

Abacus Industrial Development is expected to demolish the structure -- leaving only the concrete slab -- within six to nine months after the purchase agreement is signed.

The city will not transfer ownership of the property to the developer until the demolition and cleanup are complete, according to Miller. 

“They had never done a deal like that … but I explained to them some of the challenges we’ve faced with these other buildings we’ve been dealing with,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is… have to fight for years again to get ownership.” 

The city of Ashland is to assist in “some of the asbestos remediation activities,” but the demolition will be entirely covered by Abacus Industrial Development. 

The developer would later construct a 85,000 square-foot data center at the site. The building would house computer storage systems. 

“Kind of like a quiet neighbor you don’t even know is there, but still a nice looking facility,” Miller said. 

The Ashland County Land Bank and Mayor Miller had been eyeing the Hess and Clark factory since at least August 2018. The city took ownership of the property from an out-of-town owner in late 2019. 

The mayor recalled conversations with demolition companies where they estimated between $900,000 to $1.4 million to remove the blighted structure. 

“The city simply does not have the money to pay $1 million to tear down an old building,” Miller said. 

The developer had been seeking a site Northeast Ohio and knew of Ashland because of familiarity with the Pumphouse site, Miller said.

“When they decide they are going to construct one of these data centers, time is of the essence, so they look for a site where the utilities are already there, the infrastructure is already there, it’s already zoned properly,” he said. “They want a site that they know it’s ready, that when they clean up the site, they can put up their building.”

Clean up of the Hess and Clark building was one of three "major cleanup projects" that Miller identified as top priorities when he became mayor.

The first of these projects, the Pump House cleanup, was completed in late summer. Fourth Street reopened as a two-way street in August, and the former Pump House property was seeded with grass even more recently. An "urban meadow" is planned for the future. 

The former Eagle Gas Station was another of Miller's priorities. The city owns the property and is awaiting a state grant to remove the underground tanks at this site.

Ashland County Historical Society plans renovations with $170,000 grant

 https://www.ashlandsource.com/news/ashland-county-historical-society-plans-renovations-with-170-000-grant/article_1703e092-3240-11ea-a775-2f17b8be743f.html

ASHLAND -- Ashland County Historical Society recently received a $170,000 cultural facilities grant from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) to fund its building’s restoration.

The funding will be used to install a roof, replace and repair HVAC, electrical and plumbing and make other interior upgrades, specifically ones that will bring back and highlight the building’s history and character.  

“We hope to bring back the original beauty and finishes in the building,” said Director of Operations Jennifer Marquette. “There are some unique features in the building such as a spiral staircase and jail cells from when the building was used as a juvenile detention center.” 

Over the years, the building has served multiple purposes  -- a children's home, an office for Ashland County Family Services, a juvenile detention center and other private business office space.    

Donated to Ashland County in 1897, the Freer Home was used as the Ashland County Children's Home from 1907 to 1989. As an important piece of Ashland history, the Freer Home was fitting to be preserved, said J.C. Benton, communications manager for the OFCC.

The OFCC-administered grant program provides funding for the design and construction of Ohio’s cultural facilities through cooperation with nonprofit and local government project sponsors. This might include science-technology centers, nonprofit theaters, museums, art education facilities and historical sites located within the state. 

“This project supports culture through the preservation of a facility of local historical interest,” Benton said. 

During fiscal year 2019, the OFCC approved $18.8 million of appropriations for 76 projects previously authorized by the Ohio general assembly. As part of the administration of the grant program, the OFCC disbursed $28.8 million to 127 projects during the fiscal year. 

Other cultural facilities grants awarded in Ashland County have covered a portion of the renovations at the Schrine’s Theatre in Ashland and the Loudonville Opera House to the southern portion of Ashland County. The Hayesville Opera House received a grant for its sound system.

The Ashland County Historical Society’s intention for the grant is to more effectively tell the building’s historic story, Marquette explained. 

“This grant is very significant. We are looking to expand our outreach into the community and provide additional areas where we can display the heritage of Ashland County,” she said. “This building will also provide expanded areas for gatherings where we can hold lectures from guest speakers and a common space for the community to use.  We have many significant museum collections that can now be displayed.”

The preliminary work -- identifying contractors, budgeting costs and collecting furnishings -- is complete, allowing the historical society to accelerate the remainder of the project. It’s expected to be complete by late spring or early summer 2020. 

“Our partnership with the OFCC has been wonderful, and they have been very helpful along the way,” Marquette said.  “We look forward to providing Ashland with the renovation of an important historical landmark that can be used and enjoyed by the community.”