Cleanup continues at old Van Dresser building

NORWALK — Slowly but surely, cleanup is progressing at the old Van Dresser building on Ontario Street in Norwalk. Dr. Barry and Kim Zadeh purchased the old building, most recently home to PIPO. The plastics manufacturer, a part of Highway Composites LLC, closed its doors in 2015 and left behind mountains of material inside and outside at 75 Ontario St. "The cost of going in there and cleaning everything up would be exorbitant," Stuart O'Hara, Norwalk law director, said previously. "Someone has to be willing to front that money in order to clean that up." The Zadehs have done just that. "The Zadehs have put thousands of dollars into the clean-up of that building," Norwalk Mayor Dave Light said. "It is my understanding they are working inside. They had a lot inside and there is still a lot to go. There were bales of stuff stacked up to the ceiling. Over the years, vandals got in there and stripped out most of the copper. People were living in there. "The city boarded it up and kept an eye on it." Since the Zadehs took over, the area has been cleaned up and tons of junk has been removed. "We went through there with the Zadehs," Light said. "My hat's off to them. It's 19 acres or something like that. They see the big picture. It's a huge undertaking. The biggest eyesore in Norwalk. You have to have a vision and they have a vision. They want to see jobs in that building — high-paying jobs. "They have invested a lot of money in this town," he added. "I have had many meetings with them and they are genuinely nice people. They bought the old Sazdanoff house on the corner of Newton and Main. Right off the bat they sent a guy up there who restored the tile roof to its original form. They have their own construction crew. "They were just walking past it and decided it was something they wanted to undertake. They are very community-minded. They see the vision and they have the means to do it. They stop by every couple of weeks to see what is going on." Light talked about other projects around town. "The big deal is on the north side where they are putting the water lines in," he said. "It will be interesting to see what happens on the south side by Burger King. People want to know what is going to go there." CASTO Real Estate Services is interested in buying 19 acres of land just south of Burger King and across the street from Fisher-Titus. Officials with CASTO are waiting to see if Norwalk will re-zone the area as commercial. "It would definitely be an improvement on that side of town," Light said. "All they are trying to get re-zoned are the front couple of acres ... not the whole 19 acres — just the ones there bordering Benedict Avenue and the bypass. "They mentioned offices for hospital-related businesses. The biggest request I have is for some sit-down restaurants and better housing. That is what I am hoping that is what they are going to do." Light said the area wouldn't be a typical strip mall or plaza. CASTO would use the same traffic light already in place and remove the old car sales lot. "I think it would be a win-win for the city," he said. "They are an upscale investment firm. It would be a real facelift for that side of town." That would go hand-in-hand with a recent proposal to redesign Benedict Avenue. The Norwalk Economic Development Corp. recently presented a plan to Norwalk city council with some ideas of taking advantage of the area around Fisher-Titus Medical Center. "NEDC hired OEM to do the study on the south side," Light said, adding NEDC paid OMH $26,000 for its work, with funding coming from a $14,200 JobsOhio grant and private money. "They are pretty ambitious plans to redesign Benedict Avenue to the (U.S. 20) bypass. Very nice plans ... uplift for that whole area. With the sale of the property near the bypass and the re-zoning, it would be a rebranding of the south side." Light said it was just a vision of the future, not any solid planning. "The whole south side Benedict thing is a nice plan," he said. "The big question mark will be how will they fund it." There also are tentative plans to put in a Mickey Mart/Dunkin' Donuts next to the 249 Benedict Ave. McDonald's in the old Kaiser-Wells location. Mickey Mart crews are finishing a new store in Wakeman and that should be completed soon. One hangup with the new Norwalk location is getting trucks in and out of the station. Early plans are to have trucks exit on Executive Drive, but there are a number of concerns that still have to be worked out. "I haven't seen any progress on that," Light said. "They are still working on how they will turn back onto Benedict Avenue or 250." How about Berry's Restaurant? "They put a lot money into the inside of the building," Light said. H.R.F Enterprises LLC purchased the restaurant for $375,000 from 15 W. Main St. LLC., just over a year ago. Carlyn Wall, 16 Gerard Dr. in Norwalk, signed the mortgage. "I am very excited about this," Wall said at the time. "This is something I wanted to do my whole life. I definitely have been a foodie all my life." The Walls (Jeff and Carlyn) have lived in Norwalk almost two years, Carlyn said, moving to town for her husband's work. "It is just a matter when they can pull it all together," Light said. "They have put a lot of money into the interior of that building. I am sure they are going to open at some point. Talking to them and seeing all of the improvements they have done, I think it will be worth the wait." The mural on the side of the Huron County building facing Linwood Avenue partially blew off Thursday night and is being repaired by city workers. "Daren Smith wanted to know if General Services could help them," Light said. "They took it down and will repair it. Those guys are really good at that kinds of stuff. Daren is very civic-minded, and this is good for the city." Finally, Light said the process has started to hire a new fire chief. Ron Luttrell recently left the position and assistant chief Dan Strayer is in charge until a new chief is selected. Strayer told the Reflector he is interested in the job.