Dismantling history

PERKINS TWP. — Carnage from one of the area's most historic industrial facilities can be seen by passersby on West Perkins and Hayes avenues near Sandusky High School. The 129-acre property at 2509 Hayes Ave. (Ohio 4) — which is remembered by names like Delphi, KBI, New Departure or New Departure-Hyatt — employed thousands of local manufacturing workers dating back to the 1940s. The 1.3 million-square-foot structure is being razed in hopes to make the property "shovel ready" for redevelopment by the end of 2023, according to Nico Samaniego, the Erie County Economic Development Corp.'s business development coordinator. "To best position this site for future development, the building owners felt that demolition was the best way to make it an attractive site," Samaniego said. The property was bought in 2008 by a company known as 2509 Hayes LLC. The property has been abandoned since 2017. Samaniego said the company is in the redevelopment business. "Their goal is to help sites get redeveloped for the benefit of the community," Samaniego said. Local officials do not yet know what business or facility could occupy the newly leveled ground. Register requests for an interview with the property owners have gone unanswered. An original timeline of completing demolition by the end of this year should still happen, according to Samaniego. "I imagine if any hiccups had occurred, we would have connected. Overall, I imagine that they're feeling confident," Samaniego said. The Register asked the Ohio EPA about possible environmental contamination at the site that might have accrued over the manufacturer's seven decades in operation. 2509 Hayes has chosen to take their property through the state's voluntary action program, according to Dina Pierce, an Ohio EPA spokeswoman. The program is a route in which individuals are permitted to privately investigate environmental contamination, clean up what is necessary, file a report with the Ohio EPA and enter an agreement with the agency stipulating if any additional action is necessary. If the company adheres to the agreement's terms, they "receive a promise from the state of Ohio that no more cleanup is needed," according to the state agency. When the cleanup requirements are met, then the EPA issues a covenant not to sue for future investigations and cleanup. The environmental assessment and remediation processes at the property are still underway, according to Pierce. This comes as the demolition is also well underway. The next step of the program is to investigate whether or not any oil or other hazardous substances have contaminated the property. 2509 Hayes has submitted an assessment for review and has received comments back from the EPA, Pierce stated, adding that the process remains ongoing. The Ohio EPA has also received four notifications of asbestos abatement. Pierce said the Ohio EPA inspected the property and confirmed they are meeting the state's asbestos regulation requirements. Making sense of the dollars and cents The company secured $6 million in brownfield remediation funds from the state last year. Funds cover the costs of cleaning up properties potentially contaminated by industrial operations. But "$6 million is only a portion of the costs associated with it. So I know that the building owners themselves are having to invest quite a bit of money," Samaniego said. It's not yet clear what the total cost of the demolition will be. "Our goals are to be as transparent as possible about the process and make sure that the community knows that we're working hard to make sure that this becomes the economic driver it formerly was," Samaniego said.