The company wants to convert the building into housing and ground-floor commercial spaces.
In April of 2020, an inspector with the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency (RAPCA) visited the building and saw damaged thermal system pipe insulation inside and outside of the building and a trash chute also contained insulation debris, according to a statement of facts that was part of a plea agreement.
Between early 2019 and March 2020, Fidelity’s owner, Sam Almaz, and an employee met with general contracting and asbestos abatement companies to do walk-throughs of the building to get estimates on asbestos abatement and renovation services, says the statement of facts.
Fidelity Development Group learned the building likely had substantial amounts of materials containing asbestos and an asbestos survey was needed, the statement says.
Renovation work commenced anyway without a survey. A certified asbestos abatement company later identified more than 12,000 linear feet of asbestos pipe wrap insulation in a “friable” condition. Friable asbestos can be crumbled into powder by hand pressure alone.
The plea agreement says the defendant has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine, and the company expects to receive a two-year sentence of organizational probation.
The company also agreed to provide its employees with environmental safety training.
Last December, the Fidelity building was awarded $4.9 million in state historic tax credits to assist with a roughly $51 million project to revitalize the building, which has been empty since around 2008.
The office tower, located near the Levitt Pavilion Dayton and the Dayton Convention Center, is supposed to be converted into 101 residential units and ground floor spaces for food and entertainment businesses. The building once housed a savings and loan business and medical offices.
The Fidelity building also won a state historic tax credit award in 2018 for a revitalization project. That project did not go forward to completion.
An attorney for Fidelity Development Group and federal prosecutors declined comment when contacted by the Dayton Daily News.
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