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Cafaro headquarters, Hampton Inn plans unveiled
By Kalea Hall
NILES
Cafaro Co. will move its family to a new home in 2015.
The new 50,000-square-foot Cafaro corporate headquarters will be an updated, more-open space for its 200 employees, or, as the Cafaros call them, extended family members.
“It’s much more than a new building. It’s a new chapter,” said Anthony Cafaro Jr., co-president.
The official announcement was made Tuesday inside Eastwood Mall and featured an assortment of treats for guests, architectural renderings of the structure and streamers flying from the mall’s ceiling at the end of Anthony Cafaro Sr.’s speech. He is Cafaro Co.’s retired president and current consultant.
William A. Cafaro, co-president of the company, and numerous members of the Cafaro corporate team also were in attendance at the event.
“For me, personally, it is a very gratifying day,” Cafaro Sr. said. “I am able to witness the planning, the forethought and the aggressiveness of my two sons — who remind me of my father,” William M. Cafaro, the founder.
In addition to the new headquarters, Cafaro Co. announced plans for a Hampton Inn and Suites.
The four-story, 100-room Hampton Inn will be built on the site where the Eastwood Expo Center is located and is expected to open in 2016.
Cafaro Co. was founded in Youngstown in 1945. The current office building at 2445 Belmont Ave., Youngstown, was built in the 1960s and expanded in the 1970s.
“We are in the real-estate business so, certainly, we don’t intend for it to sit empty for very long,” Cafaro Jr. said of the Belmont Avenue property. “We are going to be working with groups such as the regional chamber to locate a user for the space.”
The moving project has been in the works for several years because of the limitations employees have in the current office space, and due to plans for growth. In addition, Cafaro Co. has formed relationships in Niles and Trumbull County in the past 45 years since Eastwood Mall has been a staple in the community.
Niles Mayor Ralph Infante and other Trumbull County representatives welcomed Cafaro Co. Infante said the city is probably looking at close to $300,000 in income taxes from both the headquarters and opening of the Hampton Inn.
“It is a win-win situation,” Infante said. “It increases our income-tax base.”
Total cost of the new three-story headquarters has not been determined, the company said. It has gone through phase one, which includes the demolition, site preparation and structural steel and concrete installation that all began in October 2013. By November, phase two will begin with an expected completion date of late 2015. The Eastwood Conference Center also is expected to open in late 2015.
The headquarters will adjoin the conference center and feature a glass atrium, interior sky walls and a sweeping circular staircase. Both the conference center and headquarters were designed by Phillips/Sekanick Architects Inc. of Warren, and locally based and Ohio contractors are working on the project.
“We have belonged here for a long time, [and] we should have been here years ago,” Anthony Sr. said. “It is great to call this home.”