Ohio has committed $150 million in state money to rid 42 counties of deteriorated and vacant structures. In Knox County, Mount Vernon will demolish 11 buildings throughout the county with their $500,000 allotment.
Some of the buildings on the demo list may be familiar to residents, including a Danville building known as the quilt shop, a High Street property, and interior demolition to the Mount Vernon News building.
"We received a grant from the state for $500,000 to do demolition and site revitalization,” Sam Filkins, vice president at the Area Development Foundation, said. "Out of that, most of them are being demolished. One of them is the former Mount Vernon News Building downtown. It's an interior demo. There's an old printing press in there. We are removing walls to prep the building to be revitalized. And we will be doing an exterior remodel as well. The grant pays for the demolition portion of it only.”
Filkins said hundreds of gallons of black ink had been left with the old press.
The High Street property in Fredericktown was a dilapidated house next to the downtown commercial district. That structure was removed to create a parking lot with some handicap-accessible entrances for one of the buildings.
The demolition project is not just limited to buildings and traditional housing.
"The Salem Road property is a trailer that needs to be demolished," Filkins said. "That site can be cleared and sold for a future single-family home. I've been there, and no floor or roof is left. It's just a shell. So, that's an easy demolition, but it still needs to be handled. We also have properties on Sandusky Street. The former Siemens property in downtown Mount Vernon is a building in significant disrepair. Removing them opens up better truck traffic in the new urban industrial parks that we're planning."
According to Filkins, with the state's help, the county can take on revitalization projects like this one. He's hopeful that more money will be available later because more buildings need demolishing. This program helped because there are buildings that would cost a lot of money to get rid of, he said.
Filling those vacant spots will take time to happen, but revitalizing those areas is paramount. An example is 503 West High St., a former sports shoe building and Beeline Auto Service.
"We recently sold a parcel to the Knox County Commissioners, and they're going to move the new Knox Area Transit Hub there,” Filkins said. “So all the public transit for the county will be located on that parcel. It will be more walkable, and people can go and catch a bus to get to whatever jobs they have throughout the county.”
Filkins said the transit hub will connect county transportation, a project that would have been impossible to buy land for without the grants.
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