Educational Service Center cuts lease, space

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners terminated funding for the county’s Educational Service Center lease, on the same morning the center’s landlord filed a breach-of-lease lawsuit.

On Thursday, the commissioners adopted without comment a resolution cutting off rent payments under that lease effective Oct. 15. Under that lease, which took effect in 2001, ESC pays $24,425 per month for 25,500 square feet on the first and second floors at 100 DeBartolo Place, which is in Southwoods Executive Center in Boardman.

To cut costs, however, ESC has signed a new 10-year lease, effective Sept. 1, under which it will pay $13,321 per month for only 16,000 square feet on the same building’s second floor, said Richard Denamen, the center’s superintendent.

The landlord, Cocca Development Ltd., sued the commissioners in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, seeking a temporary restraining order to block the commissioner’s action, saying it stands to lose some $1 million in rental income in the 3 1/2 years remaining in the 2001 lease. Judge John M. Durkin declined to issue the TRO.

A hearing will be at 1 p.m. Sept. 19 before Magistrate Dominic DeLaurentis on Cocca’s request for a preliminary injunction against the commissioners.

In a letter to Cocca dated Tuesday, Gina DeGenova Bricker, assistant county prosecutor, announced the commissioners’ intention to pass the termination resolution Thursday. The 2001 lease is void because it violated state competitive bidding laws by failing to note that the county can terminate the lease at will upon 60 days written notice, she explained.