CANTON TWP. − The former North Industry School building is coming down.
Township officials are eager to demolish the 100-year-old structure at 4805 Wiseland Avenue SE.
“It’s a better look for our community not to have this giant dilapidated building there, just off of one of our main streets,” Trustee Christopher Nichols said. “From a safety standpoint and for the neighborhood, it’s a blighted building that’s not something anybody wants to look at.”
More: ‘Eyesore’ former school building a growing concern for Canton Township
The school, which opened in 1923, has been vacant since it closed in 1984. In the years following, the building had various private owners.
The township enlisted help from the Stark County Land Reutilization Corporation, also known as the land bank, to acquire the property at the end of 2023.
“We had to follow the tax foreclosure process,” Nichols said. “We couldn’t really do that until the taxes exceeded the value of the property.”
North Industry School building demo bids
The township received bids from nine contractors to complete asbestos abatement and demolition.
Before going out to bid, the engineer estimated the total cost of the project at $480,000.
The township is reviewing the bids.
“We had nine bids received that ranged from $211,400 up to $691,000,” Nichols said. “Because a couple of those bids came in so far under the estimates, the architect and the attorney are reviewing to make sure the bids included anything and didn’t miss anything.”
State grants expected to help fund project
Nichols said the township needs assistance from grant money to fund the demolition.
“Off of the engineer’s estimate of $480,000, our whole general fund is about $480,000 a year,” he said. “Until brownfield grant monies were made available and American Rescue Plan monies everybody received, we just didn’t have the financial resources to take that cost on.”
Once the township awards the bid and finalizes the cost, officials will work with the Stark County Regional Planning Commission to secure state funding from the Ohio Department of Development.
“We received a grant back in 2022 to complete demolitions of residential or commercial properties that quality. This property was not originally in that scope of projects,” said Sarah Peters, land bank manager at regional planning. “We had a project that came in under budget, so there were some funds that we had to try and reallocate.”
The state still needs to approve the project.
“We’re confident that it’s going to get approved because the building sat vacant and there’s significant asbestos abatement that’s going to be needed to be done at the building,” Peters said. “It’s for sure beyond repair.”
What’s next for the North Industry School project?
Nichols said the trustees hope to execute a contract for the project within weeks so that abatement and demolition can begin in 60 to 90 days.
The board doesn’t have any plans yet for the future of the property.
“We’ve really been focused on trying to get the thing taken down,” Nichols said.
Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@gannett.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton Township plans demolition of North Industry School