Steve, I can answer a few of your questions.  The Grand Oak Hill Community Corp, provides management assistance to property owners for rental properties and in some cases, buys appropriate properties to stabalize and/or improve neighborhoods.  If memory serves, the company was a packing/manufacture company of sorts. The fire you speak of was spectacular since it occurred at night and last I heard the true cause was never determined. There were rumors that rehabbing for condo conversion had started but financing issues surfaced shortly before the fire.  Mind you these are only rumors.

Afterwards, we (the Board of GOH) directed the then Executive Director to approach the owners for the potential to sell and prefereably donate the property to GOH for development into residential units. There were also some private investors that were interested as well so GOH was not at the top of the list for offers.  I do know that we had inquired as to whether any environmental cleanup was done at the sight as we could not afford to take on a brown field.  That is where the discussions ended.  Shortly after the rubble was cleared and the footprints filled in.

Living near there I have never seen clean-up done and though I don’t know for sure, I’m sure the property owners on that street will confirm the same.  Everyone in the TGS neighborhood would have preferred the condos originally planned and after the fire, some sort of residential living as another use for this lot.  But a truck lot is better than the illegal dumping that had been occuring between the fire and the truck lot.  The lot only recenlty fell into the 15th ward with the re-alignment.  It was a waste of a great building.