MAINEVILLE, Ohio – After more than five years since first being announced, renovations to the historic Peters Cartridge Factory may begin soon.
Bloomfield/Schon has received approval from the federal government and the Environmental Protection Agency to begin work on the 102-year-old facility that sits along the Little Miami Bike Trail at 1415 Grandin Road.
The local development firm revealed a $25 million plan to convert the factory into a luxury apartment complex with 15,000-square-feet of commercial space after purchasing the property in 2014.
In June of last year, founder Kyle Hackbarth revealed his Cartridge Brewing Company signed a longterm lease that made the future brewery the redevelopment project's first commercial tenant.
On Friday, the brewery then revealed on its Instagram account that "Bloomfield Schon, have officially received all environmental approval from the EPA and closed their financing for construction to begin" on the factory that began operation in 1916.
Voice messages and an email were left with Bloomfield/Schon seeking comment about the current timeline for the factory's buildout.
The Peters Cartridge Co. and later the Remington Arms Co. produced munitions in the 31,460-square-foot facility until the end of World War II. The National Park Service added the factory to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, citing its role in supporting U.S. war efforts.
Then in 2009, the EPA issued an order calling for the cleanup of the factory and surrounding area due to soil contamination including lead, copper, mercury, boiler ash and slag. The EPA also added the property to its National Priorities hazardous waste sites list in 2012 and ordered DuPont Co. to clean it up. DuPont doesn’t own the property, but the EPA held it responsible because it owns Remington Arms, which was in charge of the factory during World War II.
In 2015, $5 million was spent in environmental cleanup that took nearly a month to complete in the area surrounding the factory.
In January of 2018, local officials and the property owners then submitted a memorandum asking the EPA to fast track the deletion of parcels of land surrounding the factory from its list of hazardous waste sites.
The EPA delisted 14-acres of lead-contaminated soil where the actual Peters Cartridge Factory sits as a federal Superfund Site on Sept. 26.
"EPA is making good on its commitment to pick up the pace of Superfund cleanups so the sites can be restored to productive use," said EPA Regional Administrator Cathy Stepp. "Promoting redevelopment is part of EPA's core mission and helps spur the local economy in communities near Superfund sites."
The process of delisting the site included at least two 30-day periods for public input and Congressional review. The delisting also allowed Bloomfield/Schon to move forward with securing the necessary financing to begin renovations of the factory.
"We are in the process of getting up and rolling a little more," Hackbarth said when discussing the status of Cartridge Brewing Co.'s buildout.
Hackbarth has hired local firm Platte Design+Architecture to handle the design of Cartridge Brewing Co. Furlong Building Enterprises of Erlanger is handling construction and Helms Workshop of Austin, Texas is overseeing branding and marketing for the brewery.
"We're still hopeful and targeting for late 2019," Hackbarth said.
