Shrinking funds spur call for building sale

The county has offered $75,000 for the 101/2-acre campus as is.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The immediate sale of Oakhill Renaissance Place is critical because funds to operate it are rapidly dwindling, says the building's bankruptcy trustee.
"As of Aug. 1, 2006, the trustee will have exhausted the line of credit and will not have sufficient funds to pay the necessary operating costs. Unless the property is sold prior to that date, the trustee will be forced to terminate the business operations," Trustee Andrew W. Suhar said in a motion in bankruptcy court.
The motion asks U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kay Woods to order Oakhill sold to Mahoning County, which was still the only bidder as of late Monday, or to another bidder making a higher and better offer for the 101/2-acre campus before Wednesday's 10 a.m. court hearing on the sale of the property. That hearing will be before Judge Woods.
Oakhill is the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, 345 Oak Hill Ave.
The county has offered to buy Oakhill in as-is condition, subject to all mortgages and liens, for $75,000, payable upon closing next Tuesday, according to the trustee's motion for sale of the campus.
Commissioner David N. Ludt has said Oakhill could become "a one-stop shop" for county government offices.
The nonprofit Southside Community Development Corp., which owns Oakhill, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy May 3. The 353,184-square-foot Oakhill building has nine tenants, including the Youngstown Health Department and the county coroner's office.
Suhar's lawyer, Melissa Macejko, said Suhar faces the prospect of shutting the building down if a buyer can't close on the sale before next Tuesday. Whoever buys the property must take immediate possession and assume operating costs on or before that date, Macejko added.
Suhar has nearly exhausted the $100,000 line of credit from Chase Bank to keep the building open, which the court authorized May 25, Macejko said.
Macejko said last month that the tenants collectively pay $40,000 in monthly rent, but utility costs are about $60,000 a month, and $20,000 to $30,000 a month had to be borrowed to cover building operations.
In his motion, Suhar listed the liens on the property as a $400,000 real estate tax bill, the $100,000 loan from Chase Bank, a $430,000 second mortgage to the Ohio Department of Development, and an $8,000 mechanic's lien held by Innerscope Technical Services.
Commissioners voted in May to take responsibility for the $430,000 Ohio Department of Development loan to SCDC.