Ohio CAT expands footprint with acquisition/demolition

by Dan Holland

Broadview Heights city officials joined with employees of Ohio CAT, located at 3993 E. Royalton Rd., for a demolition event of The Atrium office building on April 3. The vacated 26,000-square-foot structure, at 3505 E. Royalton Rd., bordering Ohio CAT, was acquired by the company in July 2021.

Ken Taylor, who is the owner and president of Ohio Machinery Co., which does business as Ohio CAT, personally manned the controls of one of the company’s excavators to take out the first chunk of the empty two-story brick office building. Current plans call for the 3.6-acre lot to be made into additional parking space once the site is cleared by Beaver Excavating Company.

“We’ll see a parking lot here in the short term, and then we’ll be talking about other options for supporting our business in the future,” Taylor said. “There’s a short-term look at it, but I think we’ll see other long-term changes that will allow us to have better traffic flow in and out of the property for our customers and service operations.”

“We’ve had an opportunity over several years to acquire adjacent land to our original property, which will give us more flexibility for the future to expand in different directions,” he added. “We decided to demolish this building, since it’s really not fit for renovation in our opinion.”

The campus of the Caterpillar construction equipment dealer, which serves as the Ohio headquarters for the company, has a staff of 315 employees, according to Taylor.

The Broadview Heights Planning Commission at its Feb. 14 meeting granted final approval to OMCO Building, LLC, for the installation of the new parking lot, following demolition. Submitted plans also included a lot consolidation of the site.

Ohio CAT had previously allowed the Broadview Heights Fire Department to conduct rescue training in the empty building.

“Ken Taylor and Ohio CAT have been one of our best employers in the city with a large payroll and large number of employees, and now one of the largest landowners in the city with this acquisition.” said Mayor Sam Alai, who attended the demolition event. “They’re going to have a site-ready place for the next phase of their operation. I’m glad that Ken believes in this city, and that he’s putting time, effort and treasure into this town with his company.” ∞