Signature Associates

City of Toledo, Lucas County Land Bank celebrate demolition of central Toledo building

 Posted By: Toledo Blade on July 7, 2025.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

The city of Toledo and the Lucas County Land Bank had a clear message Monday to owners of abandoned properties: Fix it up, pay it up, or give it up.

“We ask folks to fix up these properties, but they don’t do that, and when they don’t do that, then we have to bear the cost of the community to knock them down,” said David Mann, president and chief executive officer of the Lucas County Land Bank. “We’re going to do that but then we’re going to charge the owner that cost, and if they don’t pay it up then we’re going to work with the county because then they’re going to give it up.”

Mr. Mann and members of Toledo City Council delivered that message in front of an abandoned building at 2140 Ashland Ave. as a crane stood ready to demolish that property during the city’s Eyesore No More demolition event to celebrate the occasion.

“This building coming down today says to the neighborhoods that, ‘Yes, we heard you,’” Toledo City Councilman Cerssandra McPherson said. “It also says, ‘Yes, we are cleaning up the city of Toledo, getting rid of the blight.’ … It also says to the city of Toledo that we are not just talking about it, we’re being about it, getting these buildings down.”

The abandoned property, which stood vacant for decades, was designated a Code Red property by the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department, which means it isn’t safe for entry, even for fire crews.

City officials and residents of the neighborhood cheered as a crane started clawing and tearing through cement and metal at the corner of Ashland Avenue and Prescott Street near Bancroft Street.

Michael Walker, who lives in the neighborhood, said the building finally being demolished is an amazing thing for his community.

“This is the best thing for us,” Mr. Walker said. “I’m always calling the city saying, ‘There’s somebody in there stripping stuff again,’ or, ‘Somebody’s in there setting a fire.’”

The property, which cost $78,000 to tear down, is among 500 abandoned properties that have been demolished as part of a $12.5 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development in 2022 to demolish more than 900 abandoned Toledo buildings, with 400 to 500 to take place within the next 18 months, Mr. Mann said.

“In a few days, they’re going to see a green space and something that’s more positive, that can be much more hopeful and then, someday, this land can be an opportunity to do something good for the neighborhood but one step at a time,” Mr. Mann said. “We have to deal with the problems first and then we can think about the opportunities.”

City Councilman Vanice Williams said the abandoned building, which used to house Thomas Temple Church of God in Christ, is just one of the many examples in the city of what happens when an owner doesn’t take care of their property.

“This is typically what happens,” Ms. Williams said. “The buildings sit there and they just sit there until you have people come together and say, ‘We have to do something.’ … We have to fight to clean up our neighborhoods.”