The former Cooper Energy site on Sheridan Avenue has proven to be problematic for both neighbors and first responders, but a change of ownership could be a sign of better things to come.
The sprawling 580,000 sq. ft. property has been vacant for several years, and in the fall fire officials said it was purposefully set on fire several times.
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“It just needs to go,” said Alyson Kunkle, who lives nearby.
Neighbors expressed to News Center 7’s Jenna Lawson in the past that they were worried about kids getting into the property because of holes in fencing and unsecured doors, and Springfield firefighters have been hurt on the site because of loose flooring inside of the buildings.
Mosier Industrial owned the property until last month. According to the Clark County Auditor’s website, it was recently sold to R & D Excavating, LLC for $500,000. Mosier still owns the Crowell-Collier site in downtown Springfield. The demolition on those buildings is nearly complete.
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R & D Excavating is based out of Crestline, Ohio and mainly specializes in demolition. Last year, the company said it demolished between 60-70 houses last year for the Richland County Landbank.
Representatives from the company said they saw the former Cooper Energy site as a “great investment property for our company.”
They said their plan is simple – tear down the former factory and then resell the land.
R & D excavating said they didn’t have a definite cost for the demolition, but said it wouldn’t be cheap.
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They aim to take it down in about a year with five to six employees working on site.
The news was a surprise to Kunkle, who thought the day she saw a bulldozer across the street -- would never come.
“It'll wake me up in the morning and I'll be like ‘ugh…,’ but then I'll be so relieved at the same time,” she said.