Cafaro Co. advises JFS to stay put

Look before you leap, Cafaro warns county commissioners.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County enjoys favorable lease terms for its Department of Job and Family Services at Garland Plaza, and the agency's potential relocation to Oakhill Renaissance Place presents considerable uncertainty over renovation and occupancy costs, said the JFS' landlord.
"If they go to a fair, open-bid process, the Cafaro Co. will always definitely offer the lowest and best bid for the most upgraded facility," Anthony M. Cafaro said of the Mahoning County commissioners.
Cafaro is president of the Cafaro Co., which owns the plaza, 709 N. Garland Ave., on the city's East Side, where JFS has been housed since 1988.
"We have a low base in our existing real estate costs," Cafaro said in a Friday news conference, noting that the county has paid the same $4.61 per square foot per year rent at Garland since 1998.
That amounts to about $450,000 a year for about 97,000 square feet.
"We have a personal reason for attempting to protect the East Side of Youngstown, and, therefore, we'll bend over backwards to make an extremely attractive economic proposal to the county," said Cafaro, who grew up on the East Side.
Blight feared
If JFS and its 300 employees were to vacate the plaza, it would become a blight on the neighborhood and its demise would cause "deep personal hurt to our family and to my father's memory," Cafaro said.
A 2004 proposal by the Cafaro Co. to spend $1.5 million to renovate the plaza and raise the county's rent to $6.86 per square foot still stands, and that rent would still be well below the market rate, Cafaro added.
Cafaro's comments followed a 2-1 vote by the county commissioners last month to take responsibility for a $450,000 loan from the Ohio Department of Development to Southside Community Development Corp., which owns Oakhill, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center, 345 Oak Hill Ave.
Commissioners Anthony Traficanti and David N. Ludt voted in favor and Commissioner John McNally IV voted against that proposal.
The nonprofit SCDC filed for bankruptcy May 3.
Termination of subsidy
The bankruptcy filing followed termination in March of the subsidy the financially ailing Forum Health had been providing to Oakhill. The financial predicament of SCDC raised the prospect of tenants having to leave Oakhill quickly.
Cafaro said his company, whose interest in the Oakhill building dates back to 2004, intends to analyze costs associated with the facility, and, if it can be a profitable operation, make a bid in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to buy it.
"If it's not going to be profitable for us ... then we feel that we owe the taxpayers an explanation," Cafaro said.
After Cafaro's news conference, Traficanti referred questions to County Administrator George Tablack, who would say only that the county has made a bid to Andrew W. Suhar, bankruptcy court trustee, but has not received a response.
Many concerns
Cafaro cited a number of concerns about the Oakhill building, including:
A consultant's estimate that asbestos abatement there would cost $1.3 million.
The building manager's estimate the building would need almost $3 million in electrical and heating, plumbing and air conditioning upgrades.
An accumulated $417,328 real estate tax bill for the building, for which the Ohio Department of Taxation denied a tax exemption request.
Utility bills of at least $60,000 a month, compared with about $14,500 a month the county pays at Garland.
The fact that SCDC reported annual losses in excess of $1 million on its IRS 990 forms for several years.
Earlier this week, Ludt said county commissioners have done their "due diligence" concerning obtaining the facility. He said they have been researching Oakhill for two years, and have walked through the building many times, examining the roof and asbestos.
Traficanti said earlier this week that commissioners knew about the tax bill when they took their vote.
milliken@vindy.com