Hops event may be lifesaver for landmark STATION Brewer hopes Burning River Festival can buoy chances of rescuing abandoned site from A1

The old US Coast Guard station at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland photographed August 14, 2012 is reflected in a large puddle of rain water.

(John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Talk is cheap, and there's been a lot of talk about rescuing the Art Moderne-style Coast Guard Station on the lakefront.

Well, the cheap part may be over -- with judicious spending supplanting idle talk.

Cleveland Metroparks CEO Brian Zimmerman said the park system will oversee full restoration and also will manage the facility.

Uses for the station remain under discussion but could include a base for community sailing.

Zimmerman said project partners include Sherwin-Williams; Pat Conway, co-owner of Great Lakes Brewing Co.; the Burning River Foundation, and PNC Bank, with more to be announced later.

Planners are continuing to identify other sources of philanthropic help, Zimmerman said.

The Cleveland Foundation furnished $50,000 in 2014 so Metroparks could study the possibilities for restoration.

The city of Cleveland, which still owns the property, pumped $500,000 into closing it up and stabilizing the building in 2009.

Before that, it was open to the elements, scarred by graffiti and other forms of vandalism and rife with incontinent pigeons.

"If the city did not have the foresight to spend those funds to protect it from elements, quite likely it would have been lost," said Sean McDermott, the park system's chief planning and design officer.Historic photos

Built in 1940 at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, the station was staffed for 36 years by the Coast Guard, which moved out in 1976. It has been empty longer than it was occupied.

Somewhere in the 1980s or '90s, it was briefly used as a disco and bar that was only accessible by water.

Zimmerman believes the restoration was long delayed because "people look at big numbers and get soul-crushed by the math."

A 2006 study for the city estimated that full restoration would cost more than $6 million. Zimmerman said the park's plan would cost less, possibly little more than $1 million.

The first phase of the restoration will begin soon, to spruce up the exterior by summer. That includes new, historically accurate metal-framed widows.

Zimmerman said the immediate goal is to make sure it does not go the way of the station in Milwaukee. Built around 1915, it sat idle in its final years while people debated what to do with it. Before anything could be done, it was damaged by fire in 1989 and fell to the wrecking ball in 2008.

He said the city is likely to retain ownership, with the park system having a long-term hold on the property -- similar to the way the Metroparks acquired city-owned lakefront parks in 2013 that had been operated by the state.

The county gave Whiskey Island and Wendy Park to the Metroparks for free in 2014. Zimmerman said the Coast Guard station will operate as an extension of Wendy Park.

The hope is to have it complete in time for the park system's centennial next year.