CLEVELAND — Cities that are rich in history often are filled with something else: abandoned buildings.

What You Need To Know

  • The Site Readiness Fund is revitalizing 1,000 acres of urban of brownfield sites and hoping to create 25,000 jobs

  • One of those sites is the abandoned Wellman-Seaver-Morgan plant

  • They are still determining what the site will become
 

That’s the case in Cleveland, which is why Mayor Justin Bibb partnered with City Council to create a fund that will help restore some of those buildings.

One of those projects is the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan plant located on Cleveland’s East Side. The site was built in 1901 and has been abandoned since the early 1990s, attracting vandalism and illegal dumping. But now, the site has a chance at a second life. 

“I think a big part of this is making this something that the neighbors feel proud of as opposed to kind of worried about and feeling like it contributes to deterioration in the neighborhood,” said Brad Whitehead, with the site readiness fund.

It’s a nonprofit that was created last summer using $50 million from the American Rescue Plan, with hopes of revitalizing 1,000 acres of urban of brownfield sites and creating 25,000 jobs.

Whitehead said the future of this 200,000 square foot facility is still being determined.

“We and the staff at the site readiness fund have a lot of ideas for what it could be, but we want to be out and talking to the neighbors who live across the street, we want to be talking to economic development organizations around northeast Ohio to get as much input as we can as to what is the highest, best use of this magnificent structure,” Whitehead said.

Whitehead said they purchased the structure for $845,000 and it has quite the history. 

“It was the place where the famous Hulett Ore Unloaders were manufactured and many of the innovations in the modern steel industry happened right here,” Whitehead said.

The site sits along a rail line and two rail spurs come into the building on the second floor. 

There are even two old cabooses that are still there. 

And what makes this site so attractive is that it’s still structurally sound. 

“Which suggests that it could be used for modern industrial uses so whereas elsewhere in the city, we’re generally looking at demolishing the building, and putting up something new, here’s a chance to do something that could be architecturally iconic and still globally competitive from the business perspective,” Whitehead said.

Right now, Whitehead said they are bringing in engineers, economic developers and working with the state on the clean-up process. 

“At the site readiness fund, we’re trying to reactivate disinvested industrial sites all across the 77 square miles that is Cleveland,” Whitehead said