PLEASE NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH CORRECTIONS SINCE IT WAS POSTED LAST NIGHT AT 8:14 P.M.
At its Monday, May 20, meeting, the Heights Libraries Board of Trustees agreed to provide short-term lease options for nine PEACE Building tenants: Artful, Building Bridges, Cleveland Heights Teacher’s Union, Coventry PEACE Inc., Future Heights, Grace Communion, Lake Erie Ink, Reaching Heights, and Singer’s Club.
Each of the nine tenants had an option to extend their lease for an additional 18 months after their current lease expires on June 30, 2024. The deadline for exercising the lease option was April 1, 2024, but none of the tenants exercised that option by the deadline.
Given the circumstances, however, the Board voted to offer a six-month lease to the tenants, renewing on a monthly basis after that, while the Board gathers information and studies options for viable use of the building.
“We are keenly aware of the fact that these organizations are wonderful assets to our community and the work they do is necessary and admirable, said Heights Libraries Director Nancy Levin. “But the library has a fiduciary responsibility to spend the tax dollars entrusted to us by the taxpayers carefully. We are concerned with, and sensitive to the fact, that our tenants have limited dollars and we hope the community understands that we can no longer kick the can down the road with our maintenance and repair obligations.”
The former Coventry Elementary School in Cleveland Heights was built in the 1970s. It was later closed by the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District in 2007 and repurposed for community use. The Library took ownership of the building, parking lot and surrounding property from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District in 2018.
Now approaching the half-century mark, the building is in dire need of repair, notably the roof and heating system. For the last year and a half, the Library has contracted with Cresco (a division of Playhouse Square) to maintain the building. According to Cresco, the building needs $2.1 million for the necessary repairs, along with continuing routine maintenance.
Exacerbating the situation is the fact that the building is only 41 percent occupied, the average rent is $6 per square foot, plus $4.13 per square foot for operating expenses, and the tenants have repeatedly stated that they are unable to pay any more than that.
“The library and its board have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Cleveland Heights and University Heights to manage the dollars given to us prudently and appropriately,” said Vikas Turakhia, Heights Libraries Board president. “The old Coventry School was built almost 50 years ago and it’s not at all a stretch to say that the capital expenditures needed are not simply related to comfort. There are health and safety issues to consider, too. The building is sixty-percent vacant and despite the best efforts of our commercial realtor, no one wants to move in.
“We are doing our best to be a responsible commercial property owner by taking care of safety and security issues, but the building continues to deteriorate,” continued Turakhia. “But every dollar we spend on that building is a dollar we should be spending on public services and spaces that are free and open to all, like our expansion of the Noble branch and new PEACE Park.”
The 2018 transfer of the building and property was the result of a public campaign by hundreds of residents eager to prevent the city from building condominiums on the park space. In public meetings, residents expressed a desire to keep the park a public space, reflecting the property’s original deed. At the time of the transfer, nonprofit tenants occupied the former school building. The Library agreed to let the tenants remain and to allow them to self-manage the building under one Master Lease.
The Master Lease for the nonprofit tenants expired in December 2021. After that, the tenants transitioned to individual leases.
At Monday’s meeting, the Library Board of Trustees directed the staff to develop options for viable use of the Property for consideration before December 31, 2024, stressing the need for soliciting public feedback. No other decisions have been made.