The landmark power plant seen by motorists on the East Shoreway will be torn down within a year and a half.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- FirstEnergy is preparing to demolish its century-old Lake Shore power plant at E. 70th Street and South Marginal Road adjacent to the East Shoreway.
FirstEnergy closed the last of the power plant's coal-fired boilers in April.
That was three years after announcing that it would close rather than spend millions of dollars upgrading pollution control equipment for the coal-burning boilers at its four remaining power plants on Lake Erie.
The company has also shut down its coal boilers at Ashtabula, Eastlake and Oregon, Ohio, near Toledo.
Lake Shore's demolition will occur within the next 18 months, said the company. But recently built high-voltage transmission line equipment will remain on the property.
The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. built the plant in 1911, initially as a steam and power-generating facility to serve CEI's 31,000 customers.
Other boilers added over the decades boosted Lake Shore's generating capacity to 520 megawatts, about half the capacity of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant.
The plant sits on 57 acres and the prospect of its demolition has already set of speculation about converting the property to other uses, including recreation.
But at this point no one has approached the company, said a spokesman.
"FirstEnergy continually evaluates possible future plans for former plant properties and considers all proposals that are brought to the company for these facilities," the company later said in a formal statement.
