Cleanup on Beech Street: Terre Haute wants to resolve mess at former Columbian Home Products site
May 21—The city of Terre Haute is attempting to rehabilitate the former Columbian Home Products property the on north side, where demolition was begun in late 2021 but not finished.
The city does not own the former Columbian property at 1536 Beech St., but it is looking for ways to get it cleaned up.
"The administration continues to work on new problems and longstanding problems within our community," Mayor Brandon Sakbun said. "We have been working to address the infamous 19th and Beech property.
"The privately owned site has been decimated for some time. Thankfully, our city staff's hard work is starting to pay off," he said.
"The city has reached out to the [Indiana Department of Environmental Management] and [Environmental Protection Agency] to help with the site as it is not in our ownership, and it would be a huge burden to the city and taxpayers to clean up, but we are interested in getting it cleaned up," said Marcus Maurer, the city engineer.
"EPA and IDEM did come [last] week to conduct site inspections with EPA leading the investigation," Maurer added.
Those inspections, Sakbun said, were to "ensure the property is safe of any potential hazards. These agencies are actively conducting inspections and testing. This testing will take several weeks and possibly months. The city will be assisting the state and federal agencies in any way possible to expedite the testing."
The mayor added, "The test results could help the city in the cleanup and restoration of the property. It is important to note that the results will help determine whether or not we are eligible for federal funding to conduct the cleanup."
"Additional investigations are taking place to determine steps to hold the previous developers accountable for their actions," Sakbun said. "While we welcome development within our community, we do not appreciate entities like the ones who created this situation.
"We have been reviewing our building codes and permit process to add safeguards against faulty developers," he added. "Our engineering department, building inspection department and Terre Haute Redevelopment continue to work on reimagining and rebuilding our city."
A long history
The business site near Beech and 19th has a long history. Columbian Enameling and Stamping Co move to Terre Haute in 1902 and built the factory building in 1905.
In 1968, it was acquired by General Housewares, which moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Terre Haute in July 1990.
In March 1998, the company was sold to Dick Ryan, who renamed the cookware business Columbian Home Products, which continued to produced home goods and kitchenware such as pots, pans and "Graniteware" enameled cookware.
Columbian Home Products ceased production in December 2019 and announced it would close in the spring of 2020.
Demolition was begun in mid-December 2021, but permits were not obtained.
The city may examine legal options for recovery of costs, the mayor said; he referred additional questions to City Attorney Michael Wright.
Details on current ownership and who is financially responsible for the unfinished work are not clear, and those may need to be resolved by a judge, Wright said.
"For the city and the mayor, there has to be some attempt made to deal with other parties with an equitable interest in the property," said Wright.
The property "may become available through that process," Wright said.
The Tribune-Star's Mark Fitton also contributed to this report.
