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Saturday, April 26, 2008
6600 Paddock Road: The Secret Jail Site?
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Photo courtesy of here.
So what’s the deal with 6600 Paddock Road, the former site of the Lewis Center? That organization moved to Summit Road, and became Summit Behavioral Health Care. Here’s the auditor’s record. But no record exists for 6600 Paddock. Sources tell me the City of Cincinnati owns the property. Is there truth to the idea that it may someday become a jail?
Similar searches on the Auditor’s site find empty spaces. No record for the pictured lot exists for E. 66th Street, or any of the other neighboring streets. It’s like a strange black hole as far as property reports are concerned.
In the last ten years, at least one organization offered to buy the facility—hoping to turn it into a school. No deal. And so year after year, the lot sits empty. Unused. Invisible online. What is Cincinnati waiting for? Will it be developed? Into what? No one will buy high-priced condos at that location. Is a jail really out of the question?
That’s why I just sent the following to City Hall:
Dear Mayor Mallory and City Council:
I am writing to inquire about the site of the former Lewis Center at 6600 Paddock Road. I can find no record of this property online. It is my understanding that the City of Cincinnati owns it, and has held onto the empty facility for several years, turning down offers to purchase it.
What is planned for this real estate? Might it ever be used for a jail?
Thanks,
The Dean of Cincinnati
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26 Apr 2008 at 05:51 pm | #
6600 Paddock is at the corner of Edison. The old Longview State Mental Hospital formerly occupied both sides of the street there. Then they cleared out the sanitariums in order to fill the jails. Lewis Center (the successor entity) moved to smaller quarters and the whole site was redeveloped by a public/private consortium called the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing Sciences (IAMS) just in time for manufacturing to leave our shores for good.
The lots on the four corners are now in private hands. Do a Parcel ID search on these for more info:
1170003014800
1170003014600
1170002002800
1170002002900
There are various abatements and such for the improvements, but the county is seeing some tax revenue from them. There remains an undeveloped 18 acre parcel (ID#1170003016700) in the center, but it’s too ill-suited to become the Simon Leis Memorial Hoosegow. The old Sara Lee site really is the perfect place for their massive edifice complex; especially since they already own it. But the county’s too broke (see today’s Politics Extra Blog) to do anything with it in the foreseeable future.
26 Apr 2008 at 07:58 pm | #
I do not believe any of the parcels listed above represents the building cluster at the center of the satellite photo, which is the area I’m talking about. The green arrow is a bit off the mark, as best I can tell. Can you clarify?
26 Apr 2008 at 08:13 pm | #
Dean,
Do you mean to highlight where the arrow is, or where the map is centered (between 66th and Towanda Terr)?
27 Apr 2008 at 07:03 am | #
I’ve seen Google maps do this before. When I type in my own address, for example, the arrow points several houses down the street.
I’m talking about the cluster of buildings in the middle of the photo. To the best of my knowledge, that cluster of buildings used to house the Lewis Center. To the best of my knowledge, the old Lewis Center (see the link above) had an address of 6600 Paddock.
To the best of my knowledge, the cluster of buildings has been empty for years. I know the City has turned down at least one offer to buy.
Talk of jail beds there is not new, either. I was just speaking with a credible source yesterday (sorry for not being able to state the name), and he was very familiar not only with that possibility, but with the fact that neighbors (like on Towanda) are very much against the concept.
27 Apr 2008 at 10:50 am | #
Parcel #1170002002500
Paddock Road
Owner--City of Cincinnati
25.36 acres
7 separate cards (1 for each building)
27 Apr 2008 at 11:02 am | #
So if that’s the land, it looks like Hamilton County gave it to the City in 2006.
Kind of an interesting gift, since it’s apparently worth over $4 million dollars.
27 Apr 2008 at 12:50 pm | #
Portune says the site will never be a “jail.” But what about the Talbert House? Is that a “jail”?