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The old US Coast Guard station at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland photographed August 14, 2012. The Cleveland Metroparks system is evaluating the possibility of refurbishing the derelict historic building currently owned by the city of Cleveland.

(John Kuntz, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Metroparks commissioners this morning will consider legislation that could bring the historic U.S. Coast Guard Station back to life.

The action item would authorize acceptance of a $50,000 grant from the ubiquitous Cleveland Foundation to study the feasibility of such an undertaking. The park system would have to commit an equal sum.

The agenda for today's board meeting says that preliminary estimates put the restoration cost at $6 million.

The legislation makes no mention of ownership. It remains in the possession of the city of Cleveland, which used a $500,000 grant in 2009 to seal up the building and stabilize years of decay and neglect.

The station was erected in 1940, replacing a smaller harbor facility built for the Lifesaving Service, one of three government agencies that merged to become the modern Coast Guard.



The Coast Guard itself moved out of the harbor station in 1976, the same year it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been empty and crumbling ever since. As late as 2006, if not later, most of the windows and doors were gone and the once meticulously maintained building was lined with pigeons and their droppings.



The city has owned it since 2004, when officials paid $1 for the building. Cuyahoga County owns most of the surrounding land, and agreed earlier this month to deed the land over to the Cleveland Metroparks by year's end.

When the county and the park system announced the transfer of Whiskey Island's ownership, the Metroparks would only say that the Coast Guard station was not part of the deal. The city was similarly circumspect.

Maureen Harper, chief of communications for Mayor Frank Jackson, said in an email then that the future of the iconic structure had yet to be determined.

"We are currently providing basic maintenance for the Coast Guard station on Whiskey Island. Discussions continue with public sector and private sector parties about possible uses. However, no decisions have been made at this time," Harper said.

The Cleveland Metroparks will pay nothing for the county-owned land, but agreed to spend $6.25 million for improvements.

The legislation being considered today says cryptically of the station that there is "the potential of it being transformed into an innovative center for sustainability, education/research and recreation."

Nearly a year ago, the park system assumed management responsibility for city-owned lakefront parks that had been operated by the state of Ohio. The Metroparks immediately set about reversing years of neglect -- augmenting public safety, cleaning, refurbishing, and repairing the properties.

Most of those lakefront parks remain city owned, and public response to the Metroparks' stewardship has been overwhelmingly positive.

According to previous news stories, a disco and bar briefly occupied the station in the early 1990s, but revelers could get there only by boat. Now it is accessible by land.