Federal funds sought to remove Mount Marysville rubble. ‘This is a gateway’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Marysville pursues EPA grant to fund removal of 20,000-square-foot debris of Mount Marysville.
- City plans community input to shape mixed-use redevelopment.
- Officials may buy adjacent E Street lot and seek developers after site valuation.
Numerous ideas have been floated for the corner lot where Hotel Marysville once towered over the downtown of its namesake. Although the city demolished the long-vacant behemoth from its modest skyline about nine months ago, its remains lie entombed where the building once stood, and temporarily block the beginning of a new chapter of Marysville history.
Marysville officials last year missed an Environmental Protection Agency grant opportunity to fund the removal of Hotel Marysville’s remains. Now they are making a renewed effort to secure federal support for the removal of the large mound of encased debris and rubble, called “Mount Marysville.”
The grant pursued by the city, part of the EPA Brownfields Program, requires that officials foster community input on the future development of the site once the rubble is hauled away.
With the future in mind, community members had their most direct opportunity at a late September town hall event to voice their visions of the future.
“This is a gateway to Marysville,” said Dan Flores, Marysville community development director, at the town hall.
Ideas for what to do with the roughly 20,000-square-foot corner lot ranged from practical — a parking garage or popular restaurant — to lofty — a monorail-connected hospitality extension of nearby Adventist Health and Rideout hospital.
Many others fell in the realm of “mixed-use” development, meaning a combination of housing and retail units, with parking and outdoors space weaved into the design.
Given the relatively modest property, shy of a half-acre, the city has considered acquiring a parking lot on E Street adjacent to Hotel Marysville, making the parcel more appealing for developers, said Mayor Chris Branscum.
“It may make sense at some point for the city to consider buying that property whether by negotiated purchase or imminent domain in order to enhance parking in that region of the city,” he said in an interview.
The city expects a decision on its application by the end of the year. If awarded, and depending on the terms of the funding, officials hope to begin clearing the site by spring, Branscum said.
Without the federal support, the city would look elsewhere for funding, and Mount Marysville may for longer remain.
“We’d look for another way to find outside money because it’s a significant expense to the city,” Branscum said.
How we got here
Funding to remove the mountain of debris where Hotel Marysville once stood, if awarded to the city of Marysville, may not arrive until some time next year, pushing up against the two-year anniversary of the June 2024 fire that gutted but failed to topple the historic landmark.
The aftermath of the fire left safety concerns and clogged traffic along Highway 70, the city’s main thoroughfare, while officials and the hotel’s owners took to the courts to decide who was responsible for demolishing the building.
A settlement between the two sides gave the city ownership of the property and a six-figure sum while the ownership group removed itself from further obligations to the property, which had sat dormant for decades.
With money in hand, the city paid a contractor to knock down the old hotel. Now officials are looking for money to haul away the entombed bricks that remain.
Past efforts to revitalize the five-story relic failed to materialize before the late-night fire made such plans moot. With the building toppled — but not yet gone — the ongoing conversation about what to do with the corner of Fifth and E streets has gained momentum.
Schools of thought
Officials have a list of steps to take when deciding how to develop the property, which begins with seeking a valuation of the lot, Flores said at the town hall.
To find developers, Flores said that the city may again hire Ed Nelson, an investment property manager who helped the city market a property on B Street near Ellis Lake that’s now slated for a hotel, grocery store and coffee shop.
The city contracted Nelson over the summer to market the Packard Library building in downtown Marysville, another downtown corner lot of which the city recently took ownership, the Marysville Appeal-Democrat reported.
Officials have estimated the cost of removing the materials at upwards of $500,000. Had the mound been confirmed as hazardous, which was a possibility given the stated asbestos concerns in the months it remained upright and hollowed-out after the fire, the process of clearing the site could have cost more than $1 million, officials have said.
“We have probed the site and not come up with any problem substance issues,” Branscum said. “That said, some could be found. In that case, the price of clean up will increase. By how much? It’s impossible to estimate right now.”
The community feedback process continues with the possibility of another town hall event, as required by the terms of the EPA grant process.
“We will have a second town hall as the time ripens for a decision,” Branscum said.
