Cafaro Co. will leave Youngstown, destination undetermined

Cafaro Co. will leave Youngstown, destination undetermined

The Cafaro Co. said Wednesday that it has made the decision to move its corporate headquarters at 2445 Belmont Ave. in Youngstown to an undetermined location sometime in the next two years.

The Vindicator first reported nearly a decade ago, in 2004, that the company was considering such a move.

Built in 1965, the real estate development company’s headquarters are failing to meet its growing needs.

Joe Bell, company spokesman, said the building is far from a modern office space. It lacks energy efficiency and it would cost too much to renovate, he said.

In 2004, the company was said to be considering a move to Niles, which is still in the cards.

Cafaro operates the sprawling Eastwood Mall Complex there, and it has filed demolition plans with the Niles Building Department for an empty space at the northeast corner of the mall near Dillard’s.

What it will do with that space, Bell said, has not yet been determined.

One option could include a one story addition to the mall that would house professional office space for tenants and a planned banquet center that will accompany the Residence Inn by Marriott currently under construction. The hotel is expected to open sometime during the first three months of 2014, Bell said, but an operator for the banquet center has not yet been found.

Another option would be for the Cafaro Co. to move its corporate headquarters, and the nearly 200 employees that work there, to a new addition at the Eastwood Mall Complex.

But Bell said the company is considering a number of options. It has 50 real estate projects underway across the country and it has looked at relocating its offices both in-state and out-of-state.

Bell added that the company would “prefer to stay in the Mahoning Valley.”

A decision about the location of the company’s new headquarters is expected in the next month or so, Bell said.