GAB Enterprises, doing business as Vinmar Partners, is the firm that now owns the former Fostoria Glass Co. site along First Street in Moundsville.
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. – The final remnants of the Fostoria Glass Co. site are now reduced to rubble, as property owners Tom Brown and James Tomlinson review new development opportunities from energy-related companies.
“We are going as quickly as we can, while being cautious,” said Brown, who serves with Tomlinson as co-owners of GAB Enterprises, doing business as Vinmar Partners. “We want to do this right.”
The Vinmar firm owns the Fostoria property, said Brown, who also serves the separate role as president of the Raze International construction firm. After hauling away the demolished structure from the property along First Street in Moundsville, Brown said Raze contractors will begin trucking in about 200,000 cubic yards of contaminant-free soil to complete the fill project that will allow the land to reach an even level with First Street.
“It is imperative that we move dirt on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, on Monday, we will start hauling about 30 trucks of dirt per day to the site,” Brown said, noting the soil meets U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Brown said he and Tomlinson would work with city officials to ensure there are as few traffic problems as possible.
“Just in the past week, we’ve had two energy companies reach out to us about building at the site,” Brown said, though declining to identify specific companies. “We’re on the cusp of something great.”
EPA records show the Fostoria land qualified for a $200,000 Brownfields cleanup grant in 2009. EPA information states the soil and buildings at the Fostoria site at the time were contaminated with “arsenic, metals and inorganic contaminants.” Brown said workers removed all of this material, making the site ready for redevelopment.
Records show the Fostoria plant once employed nearly 1,000 workers at its height of business…