In Garfield Heights, Ohio sits one of the most toxic shopping centers constructed in the United States. After nearly 2 years of construction, City View Center opened in 2006 as a power center, containing big-box stores such as Walmart, Giant Eagle, Circuit City, PetSmart, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond, Office Max and Marshalls. Issues arose due to the center being built atop a landfill. One tenant after another moved out over the years due to health concerns and structural issues, and the center was eventually abandoned. So how exactly did all of this arise, and why was the center built here anyway?

During the 1970s, the city’s former dump had been filled to capacity. Unable to fit anymore waste, they were in need of a new location. Finally, they chose the hill where the empty City View Center now sits, which overlooked land towards Cuyahoga Heights, Brooklyn Heights, Seven Hills, Independence and Valley View.

As the city continued to dump waste here, contaminated water had begun to run down the hill, spilling into people’s creeks and front yards, turning them orange, black and green, among other colors. Sludge, oil, and garbage were contaminating the neighborhood, causing unpleasant smells for residents, and numerous complaints were filed. Not long after this waste had started leaking from the hill, people had begun getting sick. One woman, Sandy Funk, had begun having blackouts at the age of 37, having developed a brain tumor. She got herself onto a diet of natural juices and vitamins, and was able to live for another 18 years, but only after they had removed two thirds of her tumor via a surgery.

Over the following years, numerous people continued to get sick, all with similar conditions. From tumors to lymphoma, cancer of all sorts and blood in their urine. More and more people were passing out at random, just like Sandy had been. The neighborhood didn’t know exactly what was going on, but many had a good idea.

Eventually, the EPA stepped in to run tests to find out exactly what was happening. What they found was that long before they had even stepped in to investigate, the dump had been accepting barrels of incredibly hazardous toxic waste and dumping them into the land.

It wasn’t long after this that the dump was closed in 1979, but polluted water and other substances continued to drain into backyards in Garfield Heights neighborhoods. One of the worst parts about this entire situation is that the police and EPA seemed to not even care. The only ones who could truly see the effects were the residents of these few neighborhoods, and complaints were often ignored.

Eventually, a gas well was drilled at the dump, and it was discovered that it contained vinyl chloride – a dangerous cancer-causing chemical. Still the EPA thought it better to do nothing, but rather shrugged it off even after receiving calls due to high levels of methane gas inside apartments. Since it was only affecting such a small portion of the population, it was not deemed an emergency to handle.

Around 2001, the idea to build an office park was proposed. The office park would be built on the land of the former dump. Along with support from Garfield Heights Mayor Tom Longo, they contacted the Ohio EPA to receive approval. The EPA had no disagreement in pushing the planks forward. They figured that by doing some work on the land, getting it ready for further development, and placing a large parking lot atop where the dump had sat, it would make it more watertight. They were wrong.

What they had neglected to mention was that workers were building atop an old dump full of toxic, cancer-causing chemicals. Without worry, the company went ahead to begin construction for the office park. People complained the entire time during construction about the stench, and residents continued to complain about how terrible of an idea the entire operation was. Of course, nobody listened.

After four years, the EPA granted its final approval for the construction of the shopping center, without having conducted any further tests on the land. It was only after tens of millions of cubic feet of waste had been dug up that the EPA finally started to take notice, deciding at this point to at least conduct a water test. After performing these tests the Ohio EPA had finally concluded that the water coming from this waste was incredibly toxic, noting some of the highest levels they had seen in 20 years.

Why they continued to move forward, I’ll always wonder, but at least now they took some measures when constructing the center to keep fumes and toxins out. Underneath the buildings are layers of clay, concrete, gravel and a vinyl-like material. They had installed vents to prevent gases from getting inside the newly constructed buildings.

Home Depot had been planning for a store at City View, but had decided to conduct their own research months before the EPA had conducted their research. They decided that it would be a terrible idea after finding industrial degreasers that degrade into vinyl chloride, which had been seeping into the groundwater. Not wanting to put employees or customers at any type of risk, they opted out.

The shopping center was finally opened in 2006, but it would only be a couple of years before things started to go downhill. After gas was detected in Walmart for a second time in September 2008, the store was forced to evacuate and shut down. By the end of the same year, Petsmart, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Circuit City followed and shut their doors as well.

In 2009, City View Center LLC failed to make any payments at all on an 80 million dollar loan, and shortly after transferred ownership to Foresite Realty Partners LLC. Stores continued to close one after another for the next couple of years. Bed Bath & Beyond left their space in late 2009, and was followed soon after by Dick’s Sporting Goods leaving in January 2010. There had been plans to convert the former Walmart building into a convention center (again, not sure why) but that was of course (thankfully) canceled.

In May of 2012, the shopping center still held Giant Eagle, Office Max (that store can really make it through almost anything from what I’ve seen), and Marshalls.

As of 2020, the only store remaining in operation in the shopping center is Giant Eagle. From what I’ve heard, the area Giant Eagle sits on is deemed safe enough to operate. The ground continues to sink around other stores, and methane gas still pours out from the cracks running alongside the buildings. Also in 2020, there are once again emerging hopes from local developer Industrial Commercial Properties LLC to rebrand and remake the project as a business park. They have partnered with local attorney George Simon, who purchased City View in August 2017. They plan to keep the Giant Eagle, while refashioning the rest of the spaces for non-retail use. The company has a good history of bringing life back to other troubled real estate in this region, so it should be interesting to see how this moves forward. As of this writing however, this is where it all stands.

Thank you for checking out Architectural Afterlife! If you enjoyed this post, or any others on this blog, be sure to check out “Forgotten Dreams”

Each book purchase helps me keep this blog up and running, and helps keep it ad-free.

I’m also currently working on a series of state-specific books. So far the series includes “Ohio’s Forgotten History” and “Pennsylvania’s Forgotten History”

Thank you so much for your support!

You can also check out other abandoned places in Ohio by clicking HERE