Kent City Council members voted to buy the AMETEK property on Lake Street tonight for $106,000 .
The purchase passed unanimously by council Wednesday.
Kent City Manager Dave Ruller said AMETEK is essentially donating the 15-acre, 288,000-square-foot complex so it can move into new space being built by Fairmount Properties downtown.
The catch, Ruller said, is that the city has to continue the environmental cleanup efforts AMETEK has started on the property. He added that the city already has $500,000 set aside to address any potential remediation.
Councilman John Kuhar asked if the city knows how much it will cost to clean the property, which has been used for manufacturing for almost 100 years.
"We don’t know yet," Ruller said. "The two estimates we have put (cleanup costs) at about $500,000."
The property has already been through both phase one and phase two environmental studies under the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Volunteer Action Program. And Ruller said the city has talked with EPA officials about obtaining Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund money to help pay for any necessary cleanup.
The city will take ownership of the land after AMETEK begins its move into the new downtown project, which likely won't start until late next year.
There's more information about the clean-up in the previous story, which you can click on on the right side of the page. (Video: City to Buy Ametek Property as Part of Redevelopment Deal)