By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

QUEENSGATE - Amid mud puddles and the scent of gas fumes, Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley on Monday declared a 17-acre scrap yard as an ideal site for the state's Clean Ohio Fund.

The state in December awarded $3 million from the Clean Ohio Fund as part of a $14 million plan to clean up and rebuild the site just west of downtown for parking, warehouse and office space.

"This is just what the Clean Ohio fund was made for," Bradley said at a press briefing attended by nine people.

Bradley chairs the Clean Ohio Council, the agency that administers the Clean Ohio fund designed to clean up contaminated brownfields and preserve green space.

Clean Ohio has also approved: $3 million for the planned overhaul of the Ford transmission plant on Red Bank Road, $2.4 million for the former Mosler Inc. site in Hamilton, $2.1 million for the American Tissue Mills factory in Lockland and $1.5 million for the redevelopment of the former Green Industries site in Sharonville.

All those developments were part of more than $100 million awarded through the first two rounds of the Clean Ohio fund. Money has not yet been set aside to fund a third Clean Ohio round, Bradley said.

The city of Cincinnati and a private development group that includes Queensgate South Realty LLC and Belvedere Corp. plan to invest up to $14 million at the site west of Paul Brown Stadium.

The entire site consists of three main properties.

Queensgate South last year purchased the former I. Deutch and Sons scrap yard in anticipation of snaring a Clean Ohio grant.

The city donated $500,000 in property, including a long-vacant warehouse, streets and right-of-way space.

The developer expects to soon start removal of 19,000 tons of soil contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 20,000 gallons of oily water, according to Bonnie Phillips, Cincinnati's environmental compliance manager.

The site may be ready for new construction by spring 2005.

The developer has yet to determine how much office or warehouse space to build at the site, said William Fischer, a senior development officer with the city.

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E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com