BWC is coming, official pledges

Downtown redevelopment officials are working out the details.
& lt;a href=mailto:hill@vindy.com & gt;By IAN HILL & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation is ready to sign the paperwork needed to move its Warren operations to downtown Youngstown.
Jim Samuel, BWC's director of corporate affairs, said the bureau wants to move into an addition being proposed for the George V. Voinovich Government Center on Federal Plaza West. He said the BWC hopes to make the move in the next 12 to 15 months.
"We've made our final decision. We've made a commitment to Youngstown and its officials," Samuel said. He added that the BWC rents more space than it needs in the Mahoning Valley and the move would save money.
The downtown's redevelopment agency, Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., has made the move its top priority, said Reid Dulberger, executive vice president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, which provides staff to the CIC.
CIC staff are working out financial details of an expansion to the Voinovich Center for the BWC. The CIC board meets May 27.
Samuel said the BWC is not expecting to pay for the addition, and he wouldn't speculate on what would happen if it's not built.
About the addition
CIC would build the addition over about one-third of the neighboring parking lot where the Higbee department store once sat. The ground level would be available for parking.
A glass walkway, roughly 30 feet long, would connect the addition and the Voinovich building at the second floor, where BWC's office is now. Seventy-four Warren office employees would join the 55 now in the Youngstown BWC office.
Samuel said the move would save the bureau $660,000 over the next six years through cheaper rent and changes in how it pays for fiber optic cable.
The BWC is paying $15 per square foot to rent the 39,000-square foot facility in the Gibson Building on East Market Street in Warren, Samuel said.
CIC officials have told the bureau that the rent on the Voinovich addition would be comparable to the $11.85 per square foot rent it pays on its 21,000-square-foot Youngstown office, Samuel said, and include several utilities.
Samuel added that the bureau pays a $25,000 annual premium to a fiber-optic cable provider in Warren that it wouldn't pay in Youngstown.
Austintown's offer
Austintown officials, meanwhile, say they have office space if the BWC would rather move its Warren operations somewhere other than Youngstown.
Township trustees were expected to send a letter to BWC Administrator-CEO James Conrad today, offering 28,000 square feet in the township's building at 100 Westchester Drive, where BWC had offices until it moved to Youngstown and Warren in 1999.
Rent from the Westchester Drive building pays for township recreation.
The letter states the BWC would pay $10 per square foot the first year and $11 per square foot in the second, all utilities included. It paid $12 per square foot to rent the building before moving to Youngstown and Warren, the letter states. That cost does not include fiber-optic services.
& lt;a href=mailto:hill@vindy.com & gt;hill@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;