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2 fires at abandoned Whitehall condos generates attention from police, fire departments

The Woodcliff condos are slated to be demolished soon. The city is hoping to secure the money needed for demolition in the next 30 to 45 days.

WHITEHALL, Ohio — Two fires on Wednesday and Friday last week inside the old Woodcliff Condos off Hamilton Road have the City of Whitehall, division of police and fire patrolling the area more frequently to prevent another fire.

On Monday, 10TV went to the property to find two of the gates to the property open and unlocked. An hour later, the fire department and city crews added locks to both gates.

"Since the incidents of last week, the division of police are stepping up their patrol of this area to ensure to mitigate or reduce the amount of those occurrences," City Administrator Zach Woodruff said. "Ultimately we're talking about a six-foot fence with gates and if individuals want to get in, they are ultimately going to get in."

The City of Whitehall said it's waiting on the Ohio Department of Development to sign off on its application for money to pay for the demolition.

Under Substitute House Bill 110, the state created the "building demolition and site revitalization program" to be overseen by the ODD.

The program provides $150 million with $500,000 set aside per county. The remaining funds will be provided on a "first-come, first-serve" basis.

The City of Whitehall hopes it would have the money by now.

"We believe it will be in the next 30 to 45 days," Woodruff said.

The city estimates the cost to demolish the vacant condos will be about $3 million.

Whitehall spent $10 million to acquire the 50-acre property. Once demolition happens, it will be turned into what will be known as Hamilton Square.

Over the next decade, this project will have NR investments out of Miami. Renderings of the project can be seen here

The city said the housing will be a combination of rentals, owners and will have an affordable housing component.

"We are ensuring that this is a place for the guy who is making the $4 cup of coffee to the person who buys the $4 cup of coffee," Woodruff said.

There will be retail and office space as well in areas called the north, south and east villages.

The project is expected to generate 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs, according to Woodruff.

Meanwhile, the city said it's doing what it can to keep the property off-limits to criminals.

"At the end of every shift our service department before they leave, they check the gates every evening," he says.

The Whitehall Division of Fire says it has not determined the cause of the fires. No one was injured.

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