On Wednesday, July 29, the Cuyahoga Land Bank will begin demolition of the former St. Peter Chanel Catholic High School building in Bedford to make way for future use by the current owner, the Bedford City School District.
St. Peter Chanel, located at 480 Northfield Road, was built in 1956 by the Society of Mary (Marists) in response to overcrowding in other diocesan high schools and opened in September 1957. The school was designed by George W. Stickle and Associates of Cleveland. It is a steel structure with an ashlar limestone brick pattern. The school closed at the end of the 2012-2013 school year due to declining enrollment and budgetary concerns and was purchased in 2018 by the Bedford City School District.
“St. Peter Chanel has been a staple not only in the City of Bedford, but to Northeast Ohio for decades,” says Bedford City Manager Mike Mallis. “The City of Bedford is forever grateful for Chanel’s proud history, the dedicated Alumni Association and of all those who shared in the Chanel experience and call themselves Firebirds. As an alum of St. Peter Chanel, it was important that the demolition be handled with respect and reverence. The City of Bedford is excited to partner on this project and bring this important piece of property closer to its next use.”
Demolition of the massive 166,000 square-foot building is the most extensive demolition project to date for the Cuyahoga Land Bank. The Land Bank is undertaking the project on behalf of the City of Bedford, which is devoting $300,000 of its allocation from the Cuyahoga County Property Demolition Program to help fund the $1.7 million project. The city will reimburse the Land Bank for the balance and, in turn, the school district will reimburse the city.
“The property will be financed over a number of years using the District’s Permanent Improvement Fund as collateral, not our General Operating Fund,” said Bedford City School District Superintendent Andrea Celico. “The purchase of the Chanel property was of strategic interest to the Board of Education as the district continued to work toward a Master Facilities Plan for the future. The concept of utilizing the property for a future building site was first introduced by our Strategic Planning Team in 2017. They recognized the potential for a campus-like setting as it is in such close proximity to Bedford High School.”
The Cuyahoga Land Bank’s Community Stabilization team spent months prior to demolition developing detailed specs, administering bid processes, and overseeing interior and exterior inspections and hazardous materials evaluations before managing an extensive cleanout of the facility that included asbestos abatement.
“While we have demolished taller buildings, in terms of square footage, this will be our largest demolition project to date” says Kim Kimlin, Chief Operating Officer of the Cuyahoga Land Bank.
Baumann Enterprises, Inc. of Garfield Heights will execute the demolition in strategic phases over several days. “Our contractor will begin demolition at the rear of the building and work its way to the front,” says Kimlin. Completion of the demolition also includes hauling away the debris with the entire process expected to take up to five weeks.
According to an entry in the World Heritage Encyclopedia, Bedford High School and St. Peter Chanel High School both began construction the same year, in 1956, and the construction cost for the original Chanel building was $1.89 million.
The school opened on Sept. 7, 1957 with 61 freshmen males (it was a males only school then). Archbishop Edward Hoban officially dedicated the school October 1958. The building was expanded in 1963, and the new section was called the Willard Wing, according to the encyclopedia entry
Chanel first faced the possibility of closure during the 1987-88 school year, but instead it chose to go co-educational. The school had to be renovated after a fire started in the chemistry laboratory during the 1990-1991 school year causing $250,000-$500,000 of damage. In 1994, the Marist Fathers left due to declining vocations. The Sisters of Notre Dame helped out from 1994 to 1999, according to the entry.
An article from the Plain Dealer in 2019 stated that developer Sam Cannata bought the school building and the 32 acres of land it sits on from the Cleveland Catholic Diocese for $400,000 in 2016 with the hope of using it for rentals and sporting events. The Bedford School District, in turn, bought the building and adjoining land in 2018 for $1.4 million.
