Land bank receives money to demolish Munson school
ZANESVILLE — After two years of twists and turns, the redevelopment of the former Munson School property has cleared a major milestone. The Muskingum County Land Reutilization Corporation, better known as the land bank, has secured funding for the demolition of the structure, clearing the way for redevelopment as affordable housing.
The Ohio Department of Development notified the land bank that $500,000 was available to demolish the former school on Brighton Boulevard. This comes on the heels of the organization receiving $1.85 million in brownfield remediation money to demolish the former Mosaic Tile factory, about a mile away on Pershing Road.
An additional $120,000 in brownfield money will go to asbestos remediation in the former school.
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Initially, the land bank hoped to rehab the building and turn it into apartments. Following a feasibility study where the price for the project almost doubled, the organization turned instead to demolition, with hopes of building affordable housing on the property.
The land bank signed a deal with Woda Cooper Companies, a Columbus-based housing developer, to build 50 affordable housing units at the site.
"When we took on Mosaic and Munson both together, we wanted to remediate both sites to turn them into something better," said Any Roberts, the land bank's executive director. In a case of try, try again, the land bank pivoted from rehab to demolition as funding availability changed.
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The land bank would like to put both projects out to separate bids on July 15, with bids due by Aug. 26. The group would open and award bids on Sept. 1.
Roberts said the Mosaic demolition has attracted considerable interest from demolition companies across the country. Any interested parties would be required to attend a pre-bid walk-through of the property on July 28.
The grant money needs to be allocated by the end of June 2023. The demolition of Mosaic is expected to take about six months, Roberts said, or eight if the slab and any underground structures are removed. Whether the underground work is done depends on the cost of aboveground demolition. Demolishing the former school is expected to take about six months as well, part of which will be asbestos remediation.
"We hope to have both projects done by the middle of next year," Roberts said.
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This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Muskingum County land bank receives money to demolish Munson school
