Commissioners make right move on Oakhill building

Obviously no realty company believed it could buy the Oakhill Renaissance Place and operate it at a healthy profit.
If any real estate developer thought he could, he would have outbid the Mahoning County Commissioners in bankruptcy court. And on that basis, there are those who will criticize commissioners Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt for moving ahead with the county's purchase of the building that once housed South Side Hospital.
Such criticism would be wrong, because it is based on a false premise. The commissioners don't have to make a profit on the building, any more than a person who decides to go from renting an apartment to buying a house (or a duplex) has to make a profit. The homeowner is looking to provide a roof over his head while building equity in his home rather than paying rent year after year on something he will never own.
Of course, the transaction the commissioners have entered into is far more complicated than buying a house. And the commissioners proved in a number of ways Thursday that they know this.
Multiple factors
Critics of the transaction seem inclined to discuss the county's purchase of Oakhill only in terms of the move of the county's Department of Job and Family Services and Child Support Enforcement Agency from rented quarters at Garland Plaza to Oakhill. But, as county Administrator George Tablack points out, had the county not won its bid on the Oakhill building, it would have been forced to find new quarters for the county coroner's operations. The old hospital building is ideally suited for the coroner, and the cost of relocating could have exceeded $1 million, by Tablack's estimate.
Avoiding a move of the coroner's office was not an inconsequential factor in the commissioners' decision to make a bid on Oakhill.
Tablack has also pointed out that consolidating other county offices at Oakhill will not only save on lease payments, but will allow economies in maintenance and security costs now incurred at other sites.
All three county commissioners -- Traficanti, Ludt, and John McNally, who opposed the county's purchase of the building -- voted to retain Sodexho Associates Inc. of Wexford, Pa., as Oakhill's building manager. That was prudent because the building is large, its operation is complex and the county has an obligation to seeing that the needs of the coroner's office and other tenants are met during the transition of the building into county hands.
The commissioners were also prudent in naming a building commission comprising contractors and architects with experience in commercial buildings to guide the county in its new role as landlord for the Oakhill complex.
Stepping up
There are those who will be rooting for the commissioners to fail in this ambitious endeavor. That is a shame, because the commissioners have stepped up to save the Oakhill complex from certain deterioration and almost inevitable demolition if it were left unoccupied.
If the commissioners are successful, they will not only save the county money -- or at least break even on lease costs -- but they will provide space at a reasonable cost for other government entities, will develop a real estate asset of some value for the county and will help stave off blight on the near South Side.
Certainly, success will not come easy, but, guided by the professional building commission, the commissioners certainly have reason to be cautiously optimistic.