Old General Electric Building Makeover Set to Bring Hundreds of Jobs
News 5 Cleveland Video | Bryn Caswell | Apr 28, 2023
Hundreds of jobs are coming to Northeast Ohio; the plot where the General Electric Wire Works building once stood in Euclid, is getting a total makeover. “We are so excited to see the property getting new life,” said Mayor Kristen Holzheimer-Gail, City of Euclid. “This is in the heart of our industrial corridor.”
Weston Inc, in partnership with the City of Euclid, started demolition this month. The nearly $47 million project will create a 430,000-square-foot facility to house up to four light manufacturing or distribution tenets. “This is the largest total site redevelopment we’ve seen in the past several years,” said Patrick Grogan-Myers, Director of Planning and Development, City of Euclid.
The state of Ohio provided $4.5 million in Brownfield Cleanup Funds and Cuyahoga County gave another $600,000 to help the project. While there is no anchor tenet yet, Weston isn’t worried. “Our vision is to market to high-end manufacturers, high-tech manufacturers like 3PLS, Amazon, Walmart, bring retailers like that,” said Jack Green, Transactions Associate at Weston. “The good thing about this site is it came to be so versatile.”
The facility will be customized based on future tenants’ needs. One option for tenants could be potentially building a mainline connecting the new facility to Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation railroad tracks. “That is more of a tenant need, so if a tenant does reach out to us, that is something we could maybe accommodate,” said Jason Stump, Development Project Manager at Weston. “The railroad is right there.”
News 5 asked if a possibly increasing Norfolk Southern’s presence in Euclid is a concern after the East Palestine Disaster. “We always of course want to be careful and make sure everything is safe,” said Holzheimer-Gail. “There is a lot of rail traffic that comes through, and we have not seen those issues. Our fire department works very well with emergency planning, so we are prepared. We of course hope those tragedies never happen, but if that does happen, we will work to make sure safety procedures are put in place.”
Seven hundred people worked at the old GE Wire Works building, and the city hopes that number is matched again in the new facility. “Any chance we have to bring jobs to residents, tax pays to the city, and show new growth and opportunity, is a great day,” added Holzheimer-Gail. Some architectural elements of the project are still pending with the city. “Demoing is the first step,” Grogan-Myers added. “And they are well on their way.” Construction should be completed by the summer of 2024. “We want to see it built, we want to see it filled, and we want to see it back to productive use,” Holzheimer-Gail said.