City Awarded $2.7 Million Clean Ohio Grant

The City of Xenia was awarded a more than $2.7 million grant through the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund for the environmental remediation of the former Ohio Veterans Children’s Home campus.

The $2,774,655 grant will be used to abate asbestos and other contamination from several buildings on the campus, including the former power house located on Home Avenue, and several former residential dorms, as well as sections of the utility tunnels between the various buildings. Once the abatement is complete, these structures will be demolished. The grant will also help pay for the remediation of several other buildings which will remain, including the remediation of lead contamination in the former Armory building.

"This is a wonderful partnership between the City and Legacy Ministries International and Athletes in Action," who own the properties, said City Manager Jim Percival. LMI and AIA will provide all of the requisite matching funds for the project, which is estimated to cost $5.3 million.

Once compete, AIA and LMI expect to create an additional 28 jobs on site. In addition, Strong Tower Christian Media plans to locate in one of the renovated buildings, bringing another 28 employees to the campus.

The Xenia project was one of 19 projects totaling nearly $32 million that sought Clean Ohio funding. A total of 10 projects totaling nearly $20 million were awarded funding.

Since acquiring the former orphans’ home in 1999 as the site for Xenia Christian School, LMI has developed the campus that now hosts10 various ministries catering to the needs of individuals throughout the world. In January 2010 a portion of the campus was sold to Athletes in Action, which had already established its world training headquarters on the campus. The organizations have invested more than $20 million in the campus, which is home to more than 220 employees.