Wrecking ball targeting Delphi Packard complex

The Vindicator (Youngstown)

Photo

The broken windows of Delphi Packard Electric Plant 8 at Griswold Street and Paige Avenue in Warren. The city has issued a demolition order for this and two other former Delphi plants.

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

After years of vandalism and copper theft at the three Delphi Packard Electric buildings on Dana and Griswold streets, the city has issued a demolition order for all of them.

The city has tried to work with Delphi Automotive Systems of Troy, Mich., since the buildings with 720,000 square feet were idled in 2006, but the vandalism and safety issues have worsened, said Christopher Taneyhill, the city’s chief building official.

Some of the heat, power and fire-suppression systems were turned off in the buildings.

Delphi agreed to provide security, but those efforts haven’t been enough, Taneyhill added.

“I’ve been there so many times when you can just walk in,” Taneyhill said, noting that Jan. 3, he and other officials toured the buildings, took pictures inside, and saw no evidence that a security guard was in the area.

“There’s no way to secure the buildings. You can’t believe they would let them get so bad. There’s not one room in the place that’s not destroyed,” he added.

Taneyhill estimates that more than $100,000 worth of copper wiring and pipes have been stolen out of the buildings, and there is evidence that several fires have been set inside.

In a filing connected with a 2006 case before the Ohio Board of Building Appeals, Delphi Automotive Systems LLC said the Warren facilities were not a fire hazard because “there is virtually nothing to burn.”

Taneyhill said, however, vandals have torn down a significant amount of the wood paneling off the walls inside the buildings, and the paneling now litters the floors inside. “That is combustible,” he said.

The demolition order was sent to Delphi Automotive Systems of Troy, Mich., on Dec. 29. The company received the notice by certified mail but has not responded, Taneyhill said.

Rachelle Valdez, Delphi’s director of communications, said the Warren buildings became the property of DPH Holdings Corp. during Delphi’s bankruptcy reorganization, so she cannot comment on the matter.

Valdez attempted to have someone from DPH Holdings contact The Vindicator for comment Wednesday evening, but no communication was received. Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien could not be reached to comment on the order.

The order seeks to have the buildings demolished by March 1, 2012. It also seeks to have the buildings better secured “upon receipt of this order.”

Warren’s demolition order comes a short time after county officials announced they were taking steps to purchase part of the Delphi Corp.’s North River Road facilities to prevent Delphi from demolishing them.

Delphi has advertised for demolition of parts of the North River Road plants in Bazetta and Howland townships. It has put those demolitions on hold, however, pending further negotiations with county commissioners and the Western Reserve Port Authority.

Valdez and Trumbull Commissioner Paul Heltel said the county and Delphi talked last week about the county’s proposal, and it remains a possibility.