The cause of last October’s fire is still to be determined but arson is suspected, said Hamilton Fire Chief Steve Dawson.
“It’s still an open case,” Dawson said. “We have some ideas, and we’re trying to pursue some of those ideas at this point.”
The mill property was in talks to be sold at the time of the fire last Halloween, but despite the massive blaze, new owner Simfall LLC of Lockport, New York, moved ahead with the deal and purchased it as of the end of 2015 for $425,000, according to property records obtained online from the Butler County Auditor’s Office website.
“What drew us to the property is we’ve bought old paper mills before,” said David Wendt, property manager for Simfall. “That one is located in a good area of the city from what we can see.”
For example, the company has redeveloped other properties across the country located in industrially zoned areas as warehouses and manufacturing plants, but the Hamilton mill’s city setting opens it up to other uses, he said.
Efforts now are focused on cleaning up the fire debris and tearing down the damaged building, Wendt said. Crews for Cambria Contracting, a business related to Simfall, have started work already.
Once clean-up is completed, the company will review other surrounding buildings to see if they were structurally damaged by the fire and should be razed as well, according to Ken Rivera, building officials for the city’s Construction Services Division.
No decision has been made to date by Simfall about whether to demolish the entire property, Wendt said.
Nor have any plans about how to redevelop the site been decided at this point yet either, Wendt said. Simfall expects to consider all options once the current work is finished including whether to sell it for a return or hold onto the property long-term, he said.
“Obviously we would look at all options in Hamilton,” he said. “It just depends on what the market will bear in that area.”
“The city, it seems to be growing…. They seem to have a plan and we hope to be part of that plan.”
Beckett Mill is privately owned, but the city has asked the new owner to do everything possible to preserve the historic Hooven-Owens-Rentschler building at the mill, said Brandon Saurber, Hamilton’s director of strategy and information.
Fire Chief Dawson declined to reveal why officials suspect arson, and whether an accelerant was used.
“We’re not going to leak any details about the investigation,” he said.
Given that parts of the unoccupied building were undergoing demolition after the fire as well, it is difficult to estimate the dollar amount of damage the blaze caused, he said.
Anyone with tips about the fire can contact investigators at 513-785-7510.
Meanwhile, the former Champion Paper mill on North B Street could be partially redeveloped into an approximately 500,000-square-foot indoor sports center. Spooky Nook Sports, which operates one of the largest indoors sports centers in the country in Manheim, Penn., in February joined talks with Hamilton and the property owner for the redevelopment project. If plans move forward, the former paper mill could be converted into a youth sports complex, fitness center, hotel, restaurants, brewery, meeting and event space, and other entertainment venues, according to the city.
About the Author