Tenant Displacement to Middletown

DDN:
11 buildings to be demolished in downtown Lebanon
$6 million bank project displaces tenants.

By Lawrence Budd - Staff Writer LEBANON —
Eleven buildings in downtown Lebanon are to be razed to clear space for LCNB Corp.’s new administrative center.

Tonight the Lebanon Planning Commission is expected to issue a certificate permitting the demolitions, opening up room for the $6 million project that would result in construction of a three-story, 45,000 square foot building and parking a block north of the bank’s existing headquarters.

The demolitions are expected to uproot about a half-dozen families, as well as other residents.

“Most of them, we’ve found place for them to live,” Councilman Stephen Kaiser said Monday.
In July, Bunnell Hill Development acquired the buildings on nine properties around the northwest corner of Silver Street and Broadway. Demolition is planned in September and October, using state funds set aside for redevelopment of cities left with horse racing tracks due to the legalization of racinos in Ohio.

The city donated the former Eleanor Ullum Community Center. The developer has acquired the other eight properties, including six residential buildings, an abandoned gas station and hotel for about $1.4 million, according to property records.

The state funds will help the bank offset the costs of removing asbestos and cleaning up ground contamination from the gas station and a former laundry, according to Steve Wilson, chairman and CEO of LCNB Corp.

“The whole idea, from the beginning, was to take those structures, to remove them, then to turn what is a brownfield into a greenfield,” he said.

The development is seen as an anchor on the north end of the downtown, which local leaders plan to extend north to the Warren County Fairgrounds. The county plans to use its $1.5 million share of racetrack development funds and another $3 million from the racino operators to redevelop the fairgrounds.

On Monday, demolition began on the former city garage, about two blocks north of the bank project on Broadway. The city is also using racetrack development money to clear this site for redevelopment.

Last month, Kaiser inquired about progress in relocating the residents displaced by the demolitions during a council meeting. Local charities and churches provide for the homeless in Lebanon.

“Let’s deal with them on a case-by-case basis,” Doug Sibcy, a local pastor, said.

On Monday, Kaiser said MOST OF THE RESIDENTS HAD BEEN RELOCATED TO LOW-INCOME HOUSING IN MIDDLETOWN. The project will also claim one of the oldest elm trees still standing in Ohio, Kaiser said.

Three of the rental properties were multi-family, three single family. Low-income residents used social services provided from the community center, which had fallen into disrepair.

The demolitions are to be completed in September and October.

The buildings, built between 1930 and 1966, have “no unique architectural style,” according to a staff report on the project that recommended issuing the certificate of appropriateness for the demolitions.

LCNB hopes to move into the new building by the end of October 2016.

Lol
Welcome to the Sanctuary City of the area!
Tell middiwmom and crew to make room down there by the Hope House, Midpoint Library and under the bridge!