State grants enable Berea to prepare for future development [Video]

BEREA, Ohio – Two Front Street properties in Berea will reap the benefits of $200,000 in recently announced state grants.

A defunct laundromat building at 822 Front Street will be demolished ($55,000), and subsurface materials on the former Williams Ford site at 731 Front Street will be removed ($145,000).

The Ohio Department of Development’s Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program aims to help communities get rid of blighted, non-Brownfield commercial and residential properties to make way for future projects.

“The Williams Ford site still has some parking lot there and some subsurface foundations from the buildings that were there,” Berea Director of Economic Development Matt Madzy told cleveland.com.

“We’re going to use the money to clear that stuff out. Whenever we have the opportunity to get grants, we try to get them.”

He said the work will enable “future redevelopment.”

“What that future development might be is undetermined at this time,” Madzy added.

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