Cafaro explains his side

Cafaro said the county, not his company, has held up JFS improvements.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Anthony M. Cafaro Sr. can't understand why Mahoning County commissioners seem so eager to pull out of his company's East Side building or why the company has been criticized for the building's condition.
He said the company is not at fault for any delays in upgrading the North Garland Avenue plaza that houses the county Department of Job and Family Services.
"We have pursued various avenues of remodeling and renewal for the past six years, to no avail," said Cafaro. "We haven't stonewalled. The county has."
Cafaro is president of Cafaro Co., which owns the McGuffey Plaza where the JFS has been located since 1988. The county's 10-year lease with Cafaro expired in 1998, and the sides have maintained a month-to-month lease since then based on the original terms.
Commissioners have lately voiced their displeasure with the condition of the Garland Avenue facility. They say it is in need of repair but terms of the lease with Cafaro Co. hold the county responsible for the costs.
Cafaro said critics have called the lease a sweetheart deal for his company, but he said that's not true. He said the company was one of several property owners to submit bids for the office space in 1987 and the bids were based on criteria developed by the county.
Roof replacement
Commissioners recently complained about having to replace the roof on the building, but Cafaro said the lease clearly spells out that the roof and the building's interior upkeep are the tenant's responsibility.
Cafaro produced copies of documents in which the company offered in October 2003 to pay for repairing the roof. The rent would have gone up $60,000 per year, but the county still had the option of remaining in a month-to-month lease or signing a long-term agreement. The county opted to pay for the roof work itself.
"The bottom line with the roof is that we performed exactly in accordance with the lease. We even offered to go beyond that," Cafaro said. "I don't know how we could have been more fair."
The lease says that the company is responsible for upkeep of the building's structural components, which Cafaro said it has done.
"It is built like a bomb shelter, it's so structurally sound," he said. "I know it's old, but it is well-maintained."
Earlier this year, commissioners moved the Child Support Enforcement Agency out of the Erie Terminal building downtown into the McGuffey Plaza with the human services department, consolidating all 400-plus JFS employees under one roof.
Cafaro said that the company increased the county's rent by $79,000 a year for leasing it an additional 25,000 square feet for CSEA but that the county eliminated paying more than $333,000 a year in rent for the Erie Terminal building.
"But the perception is that our company has somehow been unfair to the county," he said. "The county negotiated an extremely favorable deal, and I'm happy we were able to give them that deal."
Cafaro said he and his company have tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a new, long-term lease agreement with the county. In exchange for such a lease, the company is willing to upgrade the building, he said.
The offer
The upgrade could include new ceiling tiles, carpeting, painted walls and other improvements that commissioners say are needed, but are currently not the landlord's responsibility.
"We will do any and all of those things if that is what they want as part of a long-term lease extension," Cafaro said.
In a June 1 letter to commissioners, Cafaro offered to provide at least $1.5 million to upgrade the facility in exchange for a new 15-year lease. The rental rate would be $6.86 per square foot, which Cafaro said is well below the prevailing market lease rate.
"The letter wasn't even acknowledged by the commissioners," Cafaro said.
Commissioner David Ludt said he met with Cafaro on Friday and is willing to consider his offer along with any others but isn't ready to make a decision.
"There are a lot of options out there, and I'm looking into all of them," Ludt said.
Cafaro said the company is committed to the McGuffey Plaza because it is one of the first developed by his father, who founded the company.
"It has become a personal thing more than a business thing," he said. "If we have to lose money to keep that a viable project, we'll do it."
bjackson@vindy.com