Tina Mengine, executive director of the Erie County Redevelopment Authority, spoke about the Erie commercial beyond last spring while running the former Erie malleable iron complex on West 12th Street.
The buildings, the former home of a foundry and a device store dating back to 1880, are a ruined monument to Erie’s commercial past.
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“There’s a way to save them,” Mengine said as he took an intellectual inventory of equipment, documents and other physical reminders of this story.
Related Coverage: Erie County Redevelopment Authority Plans Demolition of EMI and Quin-T Tech Paper Buildings
But Mengine had another thought. Large sections of the 200,000-square-foot construction seemed irreparable. Open holes in the roof left rot and puddles in their wake.
Together with bostwick Design Partnership and consultants, the Erie County Redevelopment Authority and its Board of Directors reached a compromise.
His plan, which is being made public here for the first time, calls for maintaining and renovating five existing constructions and building four new ones to create what Mengine calls a high-tech park.
Specifically, the plans call for the rehabilitation of 72,600 square feet of space, adding the previous construction at the corner of West 12th and Cherry streets.
The new construction plan includes 108,600 feet of area spread over 4 or five buildings on the 5. 4-acre property.
Related cover: Part of the old EMI building in Erie could be saved from the wrecking ball
According to a summary provided through the Redevelopment Authority, “The allocation designed to honor the heritage beyond commerce of the site while building for the future. “
Mengine and other leaders of local economic progression have said for years that Erie lacks a stock of buildings fit to be occupied for offices and retail spaces.
EMI’s plan goes far beyond filling the building with a giant brick or metal building.
The concept, developed through the Bostwick Design Partnership, calls for the transformation of assets into a campus-like environment.
Related Coverage: A New Beginning for the Erie County Redevelopment Authority
According to the Redevelopment Authority, “the design of the area includes landscaping, artwork, public meeting areas and metal structure rescued from the existing structure that will be remanufactured to create an external aerial lattice structure. “
One of the goals of the plan “is to create a business park style that demonstrates how adaptive reuse and historic preservation can be implemented for the long-term progression of the West 12th Street Industrial Corridor and other similar commercial sites in the region. “
While some sections of the complex will be razed, Mengine said she is very happy that some of the old buildings can be reused.
“We didn’t go through there thinking we’d stay at nothing,” he said. “But those buildings are built like bunkers. They are pretty solid. “
Mengine said the Redevelopment Authority, now located inside the former Griswold Post Office building, will occupy a small component of the renovated offices.
COVID-19 has replaced some companies’ belief in their desire for space.
“There’s a need,” Mengine said. We have a lot of interest that we can’t satisfy because we don’t have an area in a position to move. “
Some paintings have already been done since the AMF bought Modern Industries’ assets in February for $375,000. The facility’s internal ambiance was tested and undone last summer. And in September, Konzel Construction teams finished removing a pedestrian bridge over West 12th Street.
More: Construction Updates: Erie Projects and When They Need to Be Completed
Mengine said the next schedule will be the repair and renovation of the five buildings that will remain on site and estimates that the process, which will begin in 2022, will take 18 to 20 months and will charge up to $20 million.
The new vessels planned for EMI’s assets would be built according to the wishes of potential tenants and according to the schedule on which they entered the board.
She expects the investment for the allocation to come from a variety of sources, adding a $2 million commitment to rehabilitate the overdue ruin already originating in the City of Erie.
The Erie County Redevelopment Authority has implemented for a $10 million grant the state’s redevelopment assistance investment program and Mengine expects the authority to seek additional grants.
Plans for the allocation have already been shared with elected officials, the Secretary of State department for Community and Economic Development and leaders.
Mengine said she was satisfied with the possibilities of investment in the project, which may be offering an area for creating really extensive tasks.
But the goal, he said, is more than adding foot to the county area’s inventory.
“It’s a tribute to Erie’s commercial past,” he said. We hope to have works of art that are made from the devices that are there. “
In a broader sense, Mengine said the authority hopes to do for the city’s shopping mall what Erie Downtown Development Corp did for downtown Erie.
“I think it’s going to replace the psyche,” he said. We no longer live in the past. We are moving forward. We are testing opportunities for tasks that will honor our past. Our ability to create quality products ready to use. “Spaces is critical to Erie’s future.
More: Erie refocused after five years: a comprehensive plan builds confidence in “better days ahead”
Contact Jim Martin at 814-870-1668 or jmartin@timesnews. com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNMartin.