On October 11, 2012, the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation (Cuyahoga Land Bank) in collaboration with the City of Rocky River completed a demolition of a long standing eyesore at the corner of Wooster Road and Shoreland.
Rocky River Mayor Pamela Bobst said, “This has been a long standing eye-sore at a very important location of our community. It has been great working with the County Land Bank staff to finally clear this eye-sore away for our citizens.”
The Cuyahoga Land Bank typically does not perform demolition services on commercial buildings and structures. Rather, the Cuyahoga Land Bank focuses on residential blight which has become pervasive in the aftermath of the real estate and foreclosure crises. Commercial structures present problems with environmental liability and costs as well as high demolition costs. However, in cities where the Cuyahoga Land Bank has limited activity due to the lack of pervasive residential blight, the County Land Bank will consider strategic demolitions of commercial structures if these buildings are relatively small and do not present extensive environmental remediation. In cases where environmental issues arise, the County Land Bank will typically offer environmental surveys and assessments rather than actual demolition and remediation.
“This was our first and only project to date in the City of Rocky River. The project was relatively small and the environmental assessments indicated no remediation was necessary based on professional assessments. As a result, the County Land Bank felt this was a suitable project to partner with the City of Rocky River.” said Gus Frangos, President and General Counsel of the Cuyahoga Land Bank.
This site has been a long standing abandoned eye-sore going back several decades. Mayor Bobst indicated that this land is slated for green space and, possibly, future passive park usage. Inasmuch as this project will promote both community green spacing, the Cuyahoga Land Bank agreed to work with the City of Rocky River to complete the project.