Cincinnati Ohio Economic Development

Clean Up Makes Way for New Jobs in Queensgate

Former scrapyards ready for redevelopment

Following years of environmental remediation, the City of Cincinnati and Queensgate South Realty LLC (QSR) received the final “green light” from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) for the Queensgate South Redevelopment site at 900 W. Mehring Way. The site is now shovel-ready for new businesses.

“Bringing land back into productive use is an essential tool for bringing jobs to the City,” said City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr. “Our staff has done a great job of reclaiming this land to further the City’s GO Cincinnati strategy for growing to the local economy.”

Located in Queensgate, the new Queensgate South site is approximately 16 acres and sits less than a mile west of the Central Business District. The eastern portion of the site is accessible from Third Street and the property also enjoys excellent access from the Freeman Avenue exits off of both I-75 and the 6th Street Expressway. At capacity, the site can accommodate approximately 250,000 sf of single-story space and at least 250 jobs. The site is amenable to an abundance of uses – from office to light industrial to warehouse.

The property has received a Covenant Not to Sue (CNS) from the OEPA which provides liability relief for future owners of the property. “This liability relief and the clean up required to obtain it are critical to unlocking more affordable financing and insurance options for businesses interested in the location but who may be wary of locating on a former brownfield,” said Michael Cervay, Director of the City’s Department of Community Development. “The CNS essentially certifies that the site is environmentally safe for commercial/industrial users,” says Larry Falkin, Director of the Office of Environmental Quality.

Home to one of Cincinnati’s first railroad yards, the property was used as scrapyards by the former I. Deutch & Sons and Mose Cohen companies for more than 50 years. In 2001, the City’s Strategic Program for Urban Redevelopment (SPUR) team recognized the redevelopment opportunity the site could provide and obtained title to the 5 acre Mose Cohen site located just east of the intersection of Freeman Ave and W. Mehring Way. Next, the City entered into a development agreement with QSR, which owned the adjacent 12 acre I. Deutch & Sons site. In exchange for the City’s property, QSR agreed to clean up and redevelop all 16 acres.

In 2003, the City and QSR obtained a $3 million Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) grant for demolition and soil remediation from the Ohio Department of Development. The site was contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, and petroleum. The remediation of the site was complicated in part by complex environmental regulations. “The U.S. [Environmental Protection Agency] had regulatory jurisdiction over the PCB contamination on this site, but OEPA had jurisdiction over all the other chemicals we were cleaning up,” said Bonnie Phillips, Environmental Compliance Manager of the City’s Office of Environmental Quality. “Coordinating the proscribed processes and approval from two agencies is one of the reasons the cleanup timeline was lengthy.”

The project was managed through the City’s Strategic Program for Urban Redevelopment team in partnership with various City departments (Community Development, Budget & Evaluation, Planning & Buildings, Environmental Quality, Finance, Law, MSD, Real Estate, Transportation & Engineering), Queensgate South Realty, LLC, the Queensgate community, The Payne Firm, Civil & Environmental Consultants, BJAAM Environmental, ENC Services, the OEPA, U.S. EPA, and the Ohio Department of Development.

Queensgate South Flyer

Sam Stephens
Phone: 513-352-6251
sam.stephens@cincinnati-oh.gov