$512,250 grant will help turn brownfield green again

A former Hamilton County brownfield is another step closer to renewal with the help of a half-million from the state of Ohio. The Ohio Depatment of Development has awarded $512,250 for the Anthony Wayne Industrial Park expansion project in Lincoln Heights and Lockland. The 27-acre site was once an industrial property for auto salvage and storage and an asphalt plant that was abandoned in 1975. But the site holds promise for new business and jobs because of its size, good access to the one of the nation’s major interstates and its central location.
 
The grant will help pay for site preparation, environmental remediation and improvements to the necessities like water, sewer, gas, and electric. Plans are to clean up the contaminated property, consolidate the auto salvage business, provide expansion opportunities for several adjacent businesses, allow for more businesses to locate in the community, bring new jobs to an old manufacturing community and possibly provide access to an additional 15 acres of undeveloped land in the area. In recent years, with the help of state and local groups such as the Hamilton County Development Co. and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, nearly 300 jobs have been created in Lockland and another 400 are expected with the redevelopment of this site and another one nearby.


Writer: David Holthaus
Source: Melissa Vince, Ohio Department of Development

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