The Plabell Rubber Manufacturing Plant Site (Site) is an abandoned rubber manufacturing plant that designed custom molding and specialized rubber products for a wide variety of applications. For 61 years, the company provided a broad variety of equipment for injection, transfer, compression molding, and roll covering. The manufactured products included neoprene, ethylene propylene diene M-class rubber (EPDM), nitrile, silicone, urethane, viton, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), and natural rubber products. In 1993, the plant became employee owned until the subsequent bankruptcy in 2006.
The Site is located in a populated, residential, industrial and commercial area within the City of Toledo, Ohio. The Site comprises of properties located at 227, 228, 300 through 332 South St Clair Street and 406 Williams Street, Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio 43604. The Site consists of three separate buildings and a flammable storage building with a total of approximately 61,200 sq ft under roof, on 13 lots covering approximately 3.028 acres in area. The site is located in an area that is primarily residential with some industrial subdivisions. All of the buildings were accessible during the investigation (227 South St Clair Street, 228 South St Clair Street, and the main building at 300 through 322 South St Clair Street). The property at 406 Williams was an empty lot.
The Site is bounded immediately to the north and west by Swan Creek (a tributary of the Maumee River), and the City of Toledo’s Water Division and the Erie Street Market (a weekend outdoor marketplace); to the south by the United States Post Office; and to the east by several commercial and industrial properties, along with newly built residential condominiums. In addition, the Fifth-Third Field, a 12,000 person capacity outdoor multi-purpose complex, is located within 0.25 miles of the Site. The Site is approximately 0.5 miles west from the Maumee River and approximately 0.25 miles from the Downtown Toledo business district.
