Toledo-owned building receives $200,00 for asbestos removal

1/4/2011

The Toledo-owned Madison Building at Madison and Huron is one of three historic buildings that will receive $200,000 apiece to help pay for asbestos removal, state officials announced Monday.

The building at 607 Madison Ave., also known as the Nasby Building, was one of the first skyscrapers west of the Allegheny Mountains when it was constructed in 1925. Once known as the Security Building, it was just nine full stories, with two partial floors topped by a steeple-like tower.

Toledo acquired the landmark through a tax foreclosure in 2000.

The city said its cleanup will allow the site near the Huntington Arena to be redeveloped by potential investors.

Asbestos was used for its fire-retardant properties but its risk of cancers means it must removed by certified asbestos with special methods and equipment.

The money is from the state's Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund, part of $1.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

Midtown Cleveland Inc.'s Agora Theater and Youngstown State University's Garfield Building also will receive state funding.

Up to $200,000 is available to nonprofit and local government entities for removing asbestos from historic buildings.

The brownfield fund, administered by the Ohio Department of Development's Urban Development Division, offers below-market rate loans and grants to assist to help cities return the sites to a productive economic use.