Former Terrace Plaza Hotel awarded nearly $10M in state funds to abate hazardous waste

The former Terrace Plaza Hotel in downtown Cincinnati has been awarded $9.9 million in state funding for remediating hazardous waste.

The 77-year-old building has been mostly vacant since 2008 and falling into disrepair. An affiliate of Birkla Investment Group is redeveloping the historic property into housing, retail, restaurants, and a public parking garage.

The grant is awarded to the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation, which is managed by The Port. Executive Vice President Phil Denning says environmental contamination is an expensive problem.

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"And until there are resources available to clean up problems like that, we just can't get to a place where the private market is willing to invest," he said.

Denning says the state has awarded Hamilton County more than $40 million for remediation and $38 million for demolition over the last three years.

"The other major award in this particular round is another brownfield award for 4575 Eastern Avenue, which is a dilapidated industrial property over on the east side of the city," he said. "And there is another developer who has that property under site control and is looking to renovate it into housing and other uses."

You can see the full list of awards for this round at this link . It includes one in Brown County, two in Butler County, and one in Warren County.

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Also announced this week is funding for demolition and site revitalization; you can see a full list of those awards at this link , which includes over $1 million for 24 sites in Adams County and about $4.4 million for 42 sites in Clermont County.

Director of the Clermont County Land Bank Desmond Maaytah said in a statement this is the largest award since the Land Bank began operating a few years ago .

"[The award] will allow us to quickly address multiple sites throughout the county," Maaytah said. "These demolition projects will pave the way for future private investment and redevelopment in critical locations, including the former International Paper complex in Loveland."

The statement says a developer will renovate the International Paper site into market-rate residential units.

More state funding announcements are expected soon.