Camp Washington community organizer Joe Gorman is sick of the condition of the Crosley Building, a prominent building located at , a key northern gateway into the neighborhood.
Recently, Gorman fired off an e-mail to Todd Hosea, vice president of building owner Hosea Worldwide, Inc., calling the building a "wide open eyesore" and asking him if there was any chance of the company taking a more aggressive stance on getting the building closed up and the graffiti removed.
Hosea has owned the 300,000-square-foot industrial building since 1998, but has been unable to maintain it.
"It is very dispiriting to our efforts to improve Camp Washington when the Crosley sits above all else in all of its inglorious decay," Gorman said. "(I am) sick of seeing it in such graffiti-covered despair."
To bolster his point, Gorman referred to a recent post by Gordon Bombay on his Queen City Discovery blog, where he and two other urban explorers were able to reach the top of the ten-story watchtower.
According to Gorman, a door on the roof is hanging by its hinge, providing wide-open access to the roof.
"I am surprised that metal parts from the machines on the roof haven't been thrown onto the street below," he said.
Gorman also said that Keep Cincinnati Beautiful has offered Hosea paint to cover the graffiti, but has not received a reply.
Hosea has attempted to sell the building over the past four years, and is exploring a Clean Ohio Assistance Fund grant from the Ohio Department of Development to perform a Phase II Environmental Assessment on the property to better market it to developers.
The City has requested $4.3 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding through the Community Development Block Grant for cleanup and rehabiliation costs, which is expected to create 300 jobs.
In the meantime, Gorman wonders why the City isn't pursuing Hosea more aggressively, noting that the company also owns the blighted Lunkenheimer Building, located at the southern gateway into South Fairmount.
"We have called the cops and asked the building inspectors to check on the building," he said. "Firemen have checked it out also. Why can't there be a City policy that forces owners of abandoned buildings to clean up or take down the remnants?"
Previous reading on BC:
Environmental assessment could help Crosley Building owner better market property (6/18/09)
Halloween in Westwood
59 minutes ago
6 comments:
I admire Joe's efforts to direcly contact the owner's. The facts are that although the laws are there that would force the owner to maintain it, as we all know, laws are "selectively enforced".
In any other city this building would be luxury condos by now, or offices. I personally think the building could be developed, it may be hard to find a developer in the current economic climate.
I am glad to see that people are being proactive. We are doing that in our neighborhood, Knox Hill. We have volunteers that watch for foreclosures and we immediately contact the bank that owns them, AND we let them know if there are repair orders or a demo order against them.
We also contact the realtors selling foreclosures and tell them the same thing and give them data like links to our neighborhood website in an effort to help them market them.
We have found that being proactive helps. Screaming and yelling at city officials is also a good tool as well. Doesn't accomplish much but it makes you feel better!
Thank God for the good guys like Joe Gorman who fight for our neighborhoods. Keep up the great work Joe! Dawn
In terms of buildings, this is one of the greatest opportunities in Cincinnati. The structure is enormous, well-located, prominently featured close to I-75, and is absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully something good will happen there before it is too late and we lose the structure, or someone gets hurt.
I agree with Paul. In any other big city, this bldg would be condos by now. I worked in Camp Washington for a year, and I was awed by the number of amazing structures - what a waste of resources to let them crumble into decay. It seems like someone with an interest and an ounce of gumption should get people together and ... do something.
Something needs to be done with this building. It's insides are pretty gross and industrial but for the most part the structure seems very secure. With such a prominent eye line from I-75 it seems this would be a great location for the headquarters of some company. Hell the view from the top is great! Maybe put a bar/restraunt up there?
Check out the view:
http://queencitydiscovery.blogspot.com/2009/10/all-along-watchtower-crosley-climb.html
This really is a beautiful building, the structure is all in good shape, all it needs is some abatement in terms of old industrial equipment, and quite an investment in new utilities.
I'm currently working on a masters thesis at UC for architecture, and am planning on using the Crosley Building as a potential site. Hopefully it can spur some interest or investment. I'll have posts on my blog about this concept (industrial decay in general) over the next year and a half:
http://zfein.blogspot.com/2009/09/high-atop-crosley.html
There's a romantic beauty to this building, even in its decayed state.
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