Tenant found for township building

Medical Resources Inc. will occupy much more space.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- A new tenant intends to rent a large portion of the township's building on Westchester Drive for $277,000 a year.
A current tenant, Green Team, Mahoning County's Reuse and Recycling Division, is moving out in January. It has paid $30,000 a year to the township for its office space.
The new tenant, Medical Resources Inc., needs 24,300 square feet of space. Only 20,000 square feet of the building were empty. So the additional space used by the Green Team will make up the difference for the new tenant, township administrator Michael Dockry said.
Dockry said the company is moving in what he believes is a medical billing service with 75 employees to Austintown from Vienna in Trumbull County. Township Trustee Lisa Oles said the company has several subsidiaries and is based in New Jersey.
Trustee Warren Bo Pritchard said the Green Team's lease was up, and it had opted not to renew it but to stay on a month-to-month lease instead.
"We could rent a lot more of the building for more money, but it required the Green Team to release its space," he said.
The Green Team will be moving to the county annex at 2801 Market St., Youngstown, by Jan. 9.
Dockry said Medical Resources Inc. will move in April. The company signed a five-year lease in November.
Supporting youth activities
Dockry said that profits from the building go into a fund called the Westchester Fund. The money is used for youth-related activities. The township has been using the fund to pay for the $550,000 Austintown Fitness Center at Fitch High School, he said.
The fitness center was built shortly after the township acquired the Westchester building in 1996. The building was donated by Walt Terlecky, whose wish was that profits from it be used to support youth activities in the township, Oles said.
Oles said trustees have sole discretion over how the money will be used. But trustees passed a resolution five years ago to honor Terlecky's wish, she said.
She said the fitness center is almost paid for now, and the township will have to make decisions on how to use the money.
Expected expenses
Oles said she doesn't want the public to think the township will have a lot of money right away to use any way it wishes.
She said the real estate agent's commission for finding the new tenant is $100,000. The building will need a new roof at $90,000, and there will be improvements made to the interior. The heating, ventilating and air conditioning system needs to be changed, she said.
"We won't be collecting any real profit until the third, fourth or fifth year," she said.
Some of the money must be set aside for utilities, Oles said, explaining that the township will be faced with high heating bills.
Oles said she's pleased the township was able to attract the tenant because there was competition from another building in Liberty.
Other tenants in the building include United Auto Workers offices and the township zoning office. Those tenants will stay, township officials said.