F*ck You: Warner-Swasey

The Carnegie Ave. campus is a large decaying building in Cleveland Ohio's east side. It was formerly a large employer that was sold off and outsourced in the 1980s. They were building higher end electronics (like the intel plant in Columbus) and were outpaced by foreign imports. They were purchased by Bendix in 1980, and sold again in 1984 to Cross-Treker. The factory was deeded to the city in 1991. Through a few failed redevelopment rumors for a jail and a community center, it is currently alleged to be developed into mixed use commercial and residential. This has been rumored since 2021 and as we approach 2024 there are still no signs of development.

We must consider the context that the building was constructed. It was a placed to organize a lot of labor and we do not want to overlook the larger infrastructure that allowed it to be profitable. There were streetcars/trolleys that went all the way east on Cedar Ave. and a Cleveland Railway Company buildings just south of Ceder Ave. within the same block. The steel was getting manufactured not too far away, and WWII meant nearly infinite demand of machining tools for the war effort. They had the government functioning as a guaranteed buyer. Post war the shift to higher end technology made a ton of sense, but they were outpaced by Japan and Taiwan (indicating they may have evolved into computer chip making if they survived). The building was abandoned by 1989 and the city was deeded it in 1991. That means before the building had decayed for 30 years, the city could have worked to get this redeveloped.

Instead, the city has decided to develop W. 25th area, Ohio City, University Circle, Circle East, and anywhere else but the east side. I do not want to spend too much time on "we should have done x" but I do want us to consider making different choices in the future.

This building is in a neighborhood that could really benefit from the 500 jobs that Warner-Swasey was down to post Cross-Treker acquisition. It did make more money for somebody to outsource the manufacturing done at this plant, but that somebody was got the neighborhood who suffered the greatest costs to the manufacturing. The pollution, the profit extraction, and the asbestos.

There is some hope. Pennrose, a Philadelphia based developer, was awarded $13 million in tax credits during the 2023 year to redevelop the building. There was a conceptual plan submitted to Cleveland Planning Commission in August of 2023 and Geoff Milz, director of development at Pennrose mentioned that they anticipate construction to begin June 2024. Cleveland has now provided $14 million of the estimated $57 million for the development. That is ~24.5% of the total amount, not including the $1.3 million the city has already spent on asbestos remediation in 2013.

The local CDC, Midtown Cleveland, has been working with developers since 2010 to rehab the buildings. It is a shame that we are not using this building as a chance to have a more local developer or to educate local citizen via a steering committee on the property development process. We are definitely glad to see the building slated for renovation, but it is bittersweet that the neighborhood will not see the profits generated from the building.