The razing of the eight-story building will complete the “school’s vision of making Emmanuel Church the focal point of its campus,” CJ said in a new release.
CJ officials said they explored repurposing the century-old building, but they deemed the structure unsuitable for renovation. So the school said it secured funding and permits for demolition.
The land will be used as open green space for now, the school said.
CJ bought the building in August 2023 for $675,000, according to local property records. The seller was Dayton Ice Tower, LLC. The purchase included 1.188 acres, with a separate parcel, listed as just over a tenth of an acre.
“We certainly appreciate the crucial role and innovative role that the Ice House played in the growth of the Dayton community in its time,” John Marshall, the school’s director of development, said in a statement. “We are in new times and are very excited for the new ways in which this area of downtown can serve students.”
In a video the school shared, Marshall offered what he called “clear evidence” that demolition is the best choice for the property.
“We really don’t have the good structure, the good bones,” he said, pointing to brickwork coming off a wall and deteriorating cork insulation.
Formerly used for cold storage, the property is just north of the school at 505 S. Ludlow St. and just west of its tennis courts and not far from the CJ Eagles’ Roger Glass football stadium.
Fencing was put up Monday for demolition work, the school said.
Jacob Lane, the alley between the building and Emmanuel Church, will be closed for three months.
“The actual date of demolition has yet to be determined,” CJ said.
On the video tour of the building, Marshall said the structure does not offer the space to build ventilation or modern comfort systems. Rooms were once chilled with ammonia pumped through pipes, cooling rooms to sub-zero temperatures.
“I’m a little scared,” a smiling Marshall quips at one point, as he enters a darkened space.
His verdict is the building, as historic as it is, “is not usable for education purposes.”
Dayton Frozen Solutions, the cold storage business that once operated at the site, was Terminal Cold Storage before it was bought by an investment group in 2016.
CJ, referring to “old Dayton Daily News articles,” said the federal government once used the building to distribute butter, cheese and food to school lunch programs.
About the Author
