Former Celotex site declared ready for redevelopment

A centrally-located brownfield property is ready for redevelopment, the Ohio EPA declared yesterday.

The agency announced that it has issued a covenant no to sue for a 28-acre site along Wayne Avenue in Lockland, also known as the Hamilton County Regional Business Park.

The document ends property owner Verwandt Properties II LLC and the Village of Lockland's involvement with the Ohio EPA's voluntary action program (VAP) and protects current and future owners from being responsible to the state for further investigation or cleanup.

The property housed the former Philip Carey Company and later Celotex, which produced asbestos cement and rock wool insulation during the 1940s and 1950. Later, the facility was used to manufacture automobile insulation containing asbestos in an asphalt coating.

All but one of the buildings on site where razed between 2002 and 2006. Environmental remediation was supported by the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority and Clean Ohio Revitalization Funds.

At buildout, the business park is expected to include 230,000 square feet of office, industrial, warehouse, and retail space. More than 450 jobs could be supported.

In 2007, Reece-Campbell, Inc. became the park's first tenant when it purchased a then-seven-year-old, single-story office building on the site and relocated 75 employees.

Since its inception 14 years ago, more than 4,350 acres of blighted land have been revitalized at more than 260 sites through the VAP program.

Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati supports Clean Ohio Fund ballot initiative (6/19/08)