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Sebring Court to move across Ohio Avenue
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County commissioners have unanimously approved a 10-year lease that will begin Jan. 1, 2018, for a new and larger location for the county court in Sebring.
The $149,970 annual rent for a 10,400-square-foot vacant former car dealership at 606 E. Ohio Ave. will remain constant for the duration of the lease.
The lease price includes the cost of renovating the building for the court, which will move across the street from its current 5,355-square-foot location at 605 E. Ohio Ave., which the court has occupied for more than 20 years, and where the annual rent is $75,960.
The new landlord, Gen-Con Construction, was the sole bidder for the new lease agreement.
The court’s rent in the new location will be paid from county general fund monies and revenues collected from fines, court costs and filing fees, said Colleen Ingram, county court administrator.
“The lease is up and we’ve outgrown the current space,” which has insufficient parking and doesn’t comply with Americans with Disabilities Act handicapped-accessibility standards, Ingram said of the reasons for the move.
Under the current lease, the county is responsible for building maintenance, but, under the new lease, the landlord will be responsible for that, Ingram added.
“The courtroom’s always overcrowded. The lobby is crowded,” and file storage space is insufficient, Ingram said of the current court location.
“It’s a great building, and it has firewalls because they used to do body work,” Ingram said of the former car dealership, which she said is “very structurally sound.”
Because Gen-Con was the sole bidder for the new lease, the county was able to do some negotiating with the new landlord, Ingram said.
“You did a great job of negotiating,” county Commissioner David Ditzler told Ingram before the commissioners awarded the lease for the new court location on Thursday.