Master Chrome, a fixture on Cleveland’s near West Side since 1950, is coming down over the next month or two. The state of Ohio may seize the property and ultimately list it for sale so the 0.57-acre property can be returned to productive use (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
State takes over cleanup, future of site
Fencing went up yesterday around the former site of Master Chrome, a polluted brownfield industry, 5709 Herman Ave., in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood. And in the next month or two, its vine-covered building is coming down. After that, any contaminated materials and soil will be removed. Then the property’s future will be decided.
But first, Master Chrome’s past must be dealt with. That includes the on-site storage of hazardous waste reportedly including hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic, carcinogenic form of chromium used in the industrial process of electroplating and stainless steel welding.
All of that is directly at odds with what’s happening around this troubled site. Immediately east, work is wrapping up on The Vantage townhouses at 5221 Herman, with homes listing for up to $720,000. To the west, construction could start any day now on the 135-unit Canopy Apartments, 6400 Herman, after a 95-year-old warehouse was demolished.
To the south, the newly built luxury Welleon Apartments, 5454 Detroit Ave., leased out quickly at more than $3 per square foot. To the north, the $56 million Westinghouse redevelopment, 1200 W. 58th St., is ready to receive its building permit.
Fortunately, there is now a path forward at Master Chrome. Environmental Remediation Contractor LLC of Columbus was hired by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct materials and soil testing, demolition, removal and restoration of the site to a development-ready state, according to city and state public records.
Looking southeasterly at the corner of Herman Avenue and West 58th Street, townhouse developments to the east and the Welleon Apartments to the south are visible in the background. Such investment could be future of the Master Chrome site after it is cleaned up and sold (Google).
Ward 7 Councilman Austin Davis expressed his excitement today in an Instagram post, recorded outside the newly erected fence surrounding the Master Chrome property. He said a homeless person who was living there has moved on after declining assistance. But he said the site and its neighborhood have a new, promising future.
“There’s a lot of steps along the way,” Davis told NEOtrans in a phone interview. “The site testing alone will probably take a month. But it’s all good news. This is real progress.”
The Ohio EPA in January secured $7 million in additional spending authority from the State Controlling Board to fund the remediation of this site plus three others around the state. Cost of testing, demolition and clean-up of the Master Chrome site is budgeted at $5 million. Davis thanked state lawmakers for coming up with the Brownfield funds.
“This is what fighting for environmental justice looks like,” said Ohio Rep. Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood) in a written statement. “For too long, working-class neighborhoods like Detroit-Shoreway have borne the cost of toxic legacy sites while waiting for action. This $5 million remediation means cleaner soil, safer air, and a healthier future for families who call this community home.”
Master Chrome was still a going concern when this streetview was captured in June 2019. To show how fast this Gordon Square neighborhood is changing, the brick commercial buildings at left were since demolished and replaced by luxury townhomes while the Welleon luxury apartments hadn’t yet appeared to the south (Google).
Prior to council’s ward realignment, this neighborhood was in Ward 15. Its outgoing Councilwoman Jenny Spencer said in a transition memo to new council members, in updating various projects, that hexavalent chromium was stored here. The Ohio EPA told her the contamination was contained within the building.
“There is no evidence that it has spread outside of the building,” Spencer wrote.
In a case brought by the Ohio EPA and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Kelly Ann Gallagher issued a default judgment against Master Chrome Development Co. in May 2023, ordering the company to pay a civil penalty of $550,000.
Gallagher also ordered Master Chrome to halt storing, treating and/or disposing of any additional waste at the facility. The company also had to close down operations in a manner that was approved by the Ohio EPA. And Master Chrome had to establish liability coverage.
Herman Avenue is a street in the midst of a major transition. Once lined with industries and working-class homes, it’s now the setting for significant redevelopment despite the trouble Master Chrome site in the background of this July 2021 view (Google).
The company has been here for 75 years after having acquired 0.4 acres of land from Tools, Sales & Service Inc. of Newark, NJ. That company amassed six residential properties in the 1940s, demolished the homes and sold two consolidated parcels to Master Chrome Service Inc. in 1950 and 1951 for its plant, Cuyahoga County property records show.
Spencer also said her in memo that a 0.15-acre parcel immediately east of the Master Chrome structure and owned by an affiliate of Master Chrome went into tax foreclosure. It was sold at a sheriff’s sale on Dec. 3, 2025 for $50,200 to real estate investor Kevin DeFranco of Cleveland but the transfer hasn’t been recorded by the county yet.
The zoning for the Master Chrome properties allows either single- or two-family residential land uses. Spencer said Yves Development of Vermilion had a purchase agreement with Master Chrome affiliates for all three parcels and desired to build townhomes on the site if it could get public funding to clean up the properties.
“With the state taking over and Master Chrome no longer being a business, it’s tough to have a purchase agreement anymore,” Davis said, preferring to look at what’s happening on-site now. “It will take time to sort out but at the same time I would be remiss to say how incredible this all is.”
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