Vinton County wins brownfield grants for Hotel McArthur cleanup

The fire-scarred Hotel McArthur has landed $879,244 in state brownfield money, a key step toward clearing asbestos, removing debris and stabilizing the 1839 landmark before any restoration work can move ahead in downtown McArthur.

Ohio’s latest brownfield round totaled $61 million across 75 counties, with $45.8 million going to 84 cleanup projects and $15.3 million to 76 assessment projects. Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik announced the awards on May 14, as the Brownfield Remediation Program continued a push that has now sent nearly $780 million to 841 projects in 87 counties since 2021. After the new awards, 46 counties still had up to $1 million each in set-aside funding left.

For Vinton County, the money is centered on a single address that carries both economic and historic weight: 101 East Main Street. The Vinton County Convention and Visitors Bureau describes Hotel McArthur as the oldest surviving building still in use in the county, a structure that has housed saloons, restaurants, barbers, newspapers and hotel rooms over the years. The bureau bought the property in December 2021 and has long planned a renovation worth about $2.5 million, or roughly $2.8 million before the fire, to remove later additions from the 1970s through the 1990s and restore the building’s historic appearance.

That plan became far more difficult after a fire on July 8, 2025. Fire crews were called to the East Main Street building around 8:54 or 8:55 a.m., and investigators later said the building’s balloon framing likely helped the flames spread quickly. The new brownfield grant is aimed at asbestos abatement and partial demolition, the kind of cleanup that does not generate much public attention but often decides whether a damaged site can be saved at all.

Local leaders have already lined up other pieces of the project. Board minutes from Feb. 18, 2026, said Lawhon Associates would handle the environmental assessment, that cleanup could proceed with brownfield money, and that Schooley Caldwell expected the work to move in phases, starting with the exterior and then the interior. The bureau’s March timeline said brownfield cleanup was planned for spring 2026, with construction to follow. In February, WOUB reported about $5 million in federal funding secured by Sen. Jon Husted for the restoration, money the bureau now describes as capital improvements to turn portions of the hotel into a new visitors center.

The stakes go beyond one building. Bureau materials say the restored Hotel McArthur is meant to include lodging space and a visitors center, a combination that could add rooms, foot traffic and event activity to the village core. In a county with limited lodging options, the state cleanup money removes one of the biggest barriers between a fire-damaged landmark and a functioning downtown asset.