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Port authority aims to redevelop former Republic Steel site

By Justin Dennis
Shown here is the main office building of the former Republic Steel along Pine Avenue Southeast in Warren, adjacent to former Republic Steel land recently donated to the Western Reserve Port Authority.
Shown here is the main office building of the former Republic Steel along Pine Avenue Southeast in Warren, adjacent to former Republic Steel land recently donated to the Western Reserve Port Authority.

VIENNA — Western Reserve Port Authority board members today voted unanimously to take over the former Republic Steel property in Warren.

The roughly 800-acre brownfield site along Pine Avenue Southeast has a long history of industry and later, state-led environmental cleanup.

It was first developed by Trumbull Steel in 1912, then taken over by Republic Steel after World War II. The site stopped production in 2012, and owners began demolishing structures in 2014.

The site's owner, BDM Warren Steel Holdings LLC, initially intended to donate the property to JobsOhio, the state's economic development arm, for development. JobsOhio instead urged the port to take it over.

The site includes the former RG Steel property as well as two landfills still to be officially closed, which account for most of the contamination on the site, attorneys told board members during their Wednesday morning meeting at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

BDM has already put up $5.7 million to finalize the landfills' closures, attorneys said.

Consultants submitted to the Ohio EPA in April a letter advising the site had met all the state's cleanup requirements and requesting a covenant not to sue, which releases site owners from liability for environmental hazards.

Environmental attorneys working with the board said the Ohio EPA is expected to approve that legal release sometime later this year.

"It is risk-reward. There is no question about it that we're taking a little bit of a leap here," port authority CEO John Moliterno said.

Moliterno said he intends to request a commitment today from JobsOhio to mitigate the remaining risk at the site.

The property transfer is expected to close in 30 days. Once ready for development, it will be the largest such site in the state's portfolio, Moliterno said.

"What we see when we look at this site is opportunity, is job creation and taxes and revenue that would be generated. Private entities are going to be on it," he said.

This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Port authority aims to redevelop former Republic Steel site."