County agencies looking to combine resources and buy former CenturyLink building

The Richland County Board of Mental Health and Recovery Services and Richland County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Richland Newhope) are looking to combine resources and jointly purchase the former CenturyLink headquarters building at 665 Lexington Ave. in Mansfield.

Mental Health Executive Director Joe Trolian and Richland Newhope Superintendent Michelle Giess met Tuesday in executive session with the county commissioners to discuss financial issues related to the purchase, but no action was taken following the nearly hour-long session.

Trolian said the boards would share the purchase cost “50-50” with mental health using its portion of the building for “treatment space.”

Richland Newhope now operating out of 3 buildings

“We’re looking to do some expansions for youth crisis stabilization and possibly some day treatment, and we’re needing quite a large space to make that happen,” he said. “We would contract with a provider to provide the service at the location.”

Giess said her agency is looking to improve the quality and the location of facilities.

“We’re currently operating out of three locations all of which I have safety concerns with the current neighborhood, and our buildings are in dire need of some pretty costly repairs, so we’re researching this as an opportunity to relocate those offices to a better building under one roof in a safer neighborhood,” she explained.

Giess said her organization has been looking at a possible new location for more than three years with the CenturyLink building coming to light several years ago with some initial conversations.

“We had some very preliminary conversations about what our needs are and then learning that Joe had some needs for some space as well, which kind of sparked some conversations between the two of us as something maybe we could collaborate on,” she said.

CenturyLink facility was built in 1969 and add on to in 1985

Trolian noted that his board passed a resolution in April 2022 to allow him to start conversations with Richland Newhope.

The building was built in 1969 as the corporate headquarters for the then United Telephone Company of Ohio and was added to in 1985. The building has had “a few" occupants, but reportedly has not been fully occupied since the start of the pandemic.

“It’s in great shape. All of the calendars are set to the last day anybody was there, but they’ve had a maintenance man who has continued to keep the building in good working order, making sure the grounds are being taken care of,” Trolian said.

According to the county auditor’s website, the former CenturyLink building has 124,641 square feet of floor space. Trolian said the structure has a lower level that could be used for things such as storage and training space, two floors that would be “adequate” for offices or treatment space and a third floor where there is equipment. Giess said she needs about 40,000 square feet for staff.

The auditor’s website lists an appraised value of $2,856,320 for the building, which sits on a10.425-acre property. Officials did not discuss a possible purchase price.

Commissioner Tony Vero said the board would not be considering the purchase if wasn’t a good opportunity, adding there is a “very strong likelihood” there would be some grants that could be put towards the sale which would reduce the Richland County taxpayer contribution of dollars towards the sale. Commissioner Darrell Banks said both agencies have funds available and that “money is not the question.”

Vero asks for additional documentation

Vero said commissioners have asked for “additional documentation” for their review before they decide to approve the purchase and so the public may have time to review. He said one of the issues still to be discussed is the fund balances of each organization and questions the board has regarding that.

“This is not for a mortgage,” Vero said. “This would be a very costly sale, and as we know there are dollars in addition to the sale, which would be moving costs, remodeling costs, so there are documents discussed during the executive session that the commissioners requested and the taxpayers would like to review as well.”

Commissioners indicated they will meet with Trolian and Giess again sometime in September. Vero said one of the things that will be discussed between now and then is what could happen to the building if there is no sale.

“That is a high profile building on one of our most highly traveled roadways in the county, and while it’s in good shape now, kudos to the upkeep of the building, it’s an out-of-state owner and we had a Westinghouse building that sat vacant for 32 years,” Vero said.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: 2 Richland County agencies look to buy former CenturyLink building