NORWOOD, Ohio -- Five years after homeowners in a small Norwood neighborhood started fighting in court to prevent their homes from being taken for private development, the last house left standing in that neighborhood was demolished Friday morning.
Starting just after 9:06 a.m. Friday, a single crane started ripping into the roof and west side of the older three-story wood frame home, that's stood alone in a fenced off area that used to represent an entire neighborhood of 30 to 50 homes. The area is just off I-71 at Edwards and Smith Roads.
The area was meant to become a business office/retail development across the street from Rookwood Commons, but homeowners went to court and successfully blocked the City of Norwood from taking their properties under eminent domain laws.
Within half an hour the old house was simply rubble.
There's no word on whether any new development is now planned for the large area, since the former developer and supporters of the Rookwood business development have pulled out of the plan.
