Long vacant, decrepit steel mill adjacent to Uniroyal site coming down

[downtownguy]

The old Uniroyal site at the entrance to Belle Isle may be one step closer to development as the old steel mill bounded by E Jefferson's south alley to Mt. Elliott Park, and between Iron Street and Meldrum is finally coming down, according to workers I talked to at the site yesterday.

A few weeks ago, large equipment was brought in to remove some old machinery for scrap value. The workers I talked to at that time said some legal issues regarding the property had recently been resolved allowing them to start scrapping what was left inside.

Yesterday, construction tape was put around the perimeter, and there is now daily activity inside. According to the two senior managers of the effort I spoke with, they are currently working on prepping the building for demolition. Should take 2-3 months, one of them told me, so it will likely be down by year's end.

He also said he thought the empty block would become a garage for the long awaited development on the Uniroyal site. When I asked him if he knew if Jerome Bettis was still part of the Uniroyal site development team, he said he most definitely was.

Incidentally, the new development at Harbortown is moving along and they just poured foundations for the residential units. Once the steel mill comes down, and presuming Uniroyal gets developed, that would make a solid, mostly contiguous residential area from Harbortown all the way to the MacArthur Bridge.