Moving Forward
The $2.6 million sale of the long-idled AK Steel Plant 2 site along Bantam Avenue in Butler was announced Friday.
AK Steel, a Cleveland-Cliffs company, sold the 90-acre property to a Cincinnati-based redevelopment group, Capital Environmental Risk Transfer Alliance (CERTA). Cleveland-Cliffs bought AK Steel in March.
CERTA also bought AK Steel's Middletown, Ohio, property earlier.
Jake Bamberger, co-owner and partner of CERTA, said plans call for the demolition of the buildings on the property which includes the former stainless processing plant and the former American Bantam Car Co. building. Demolition is slated to begin in six to eight months.
CERTA hopes to sell or rent out parcels of the property.
Joe Saeler, executive director of the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, said the property was attractive to CERTA because it already has power, gas, water and railroad lines available. He said several companies are interested in building on the site.“It could be for light or heavy manufacturing,” Saeler said. “They usually stay quiet because of competitors.”Saeler said following demolition of the existing buildings on the property, the county Community Development Corporation would work with CERTA on conceptual plans for rebuilding in the area.“They looked at keeping the buildings, but they are just exhausted and don't meet building codes,” Saeler said.Bamberger said he hoped that the bricks and foundation stone from the Bantam building could be reused in new structures on the property.One structure, the former Allegheny Axle building, could be renovated, he said.“Structurally it's solid; it just needs a new skin,” Bamberger said.
Before any work can be done, Bamberger said asbestos will have to removed, and AK Steel will have six months to remove equipment not included in the sale from the property. Then CERTA will sell off any remaining equipment.Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche, who toured the property Friday with representatives of Butler County agencies and CERTA, said there are brownfield grants that may help with the early phases of rehabilitating the site.“There have been a lot of different discussions with various entities who may have dollars to invest in the property,” she said.For Mark Gordon, chief of economic development and planning for Butler County, Friday's announcement brought mixed feelings. He had been an executive at AK Steel for 36 years.“It's the end of an era of prosperity this plant brought to Butler County,” he said. “But that's the intent going forward, the rebirth of something new.”
Gordon said the time when one plant could employ 3,000 people may have passed, but this project has the potential to bring in 30 to 40 businesses that could provide a substantial portion of those jobs.State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, who also toured the property Friday, said, “It's great to see economic development in the community.“Credit goes to (Community Development Corporation) and Butler County for recognizing the need in our community to redevelop this site. I'll help them in any way I can to move this project forward,” she said.
