Gahanna acts on $8.75M purchase of building to move City Hall, police, senior center

Gahanna City Hall is moving soon. So, too, are the Gahanna Division of Police and the Gahanna Senior Center.

Soon as in 18 months to two years, that is.

Mayor Laurie Jadwin has said an opportunity had presented itself with regard to a solution that would address city facilities needs for police headquarters, City Hall and a senior center.

That opportunity is the purchase and renovation of 825 Tech Center Drive, and Gahanna City Council on Sept. 6 voted unanimously to seize it. Council's vote followed a third public hearing. Nobody spoke during public hearings held Aug. 1 and 15, but the Sept. 6 hearing yielded some comments for and against it, according to Dan Pearlman, the city's public-information officer.

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The vacant building, which is immediately east of the AEP Ohio headquarters, is 100,000 square feet and previously housed a data center. It sits on about 8 acres and is to be renovated, with an additional 31,000 square feet constructed.

Under the terms of the purchase agreement, the city will acquire the building for $8.75 million, according to a Sept. 7 news release from the city. The estimated cost to renovate and expand the facility is $52.15 million.

By comparison, the estimated cost for new facility construction is $99.4 million, according to the ordinance.

The estimated time to move is 18 to 24 months.

Modern design for Gahanna Division of Police

Police Chief Jeff Spence told ThisWeek the new building would be a significant improvement over the current one at 460 Rocky Blvd., behind City Hall, 200 Hamilton Road.

"We began to cannibalize space within months of moving into it 30 years ago," he said, adding that he had joined the division in 1992. "Fast-forward 30 years, and the department's grown exponentially."

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That growth, he said, has been not only in the number of officers but also in modern technology and approaches to policing and training. He said the new building would help facilitate such growth in the future and is in a much better location.

"There's really no perfect location, but this is a very attractive facility for a new combined municipal complex for decades to come," he said.

Jadwin added in the release that the current police headquarters has been "functionally obsolete and inadequate to meet the needs of our officers for years."

More room to move, grow at Gahanna Senior Center

Stephania Bernard-Ferrell, Gahanna Parks & Recreation director, told ThisWeek the new building would give the senior center more space to move around, as well as the ability to increase its membership, which is slightly below 400.

"The new facility is a great opportunity for the senior center," she said. "The location we're at right now gives us (mobility) challenges."

Bernard-Ferrell said the current space at 480 Rocky Fork Blvd., on the same footprint as City Hall and the police station, once was a library.

"We've definitely made great use of the space that we have," she said.

She mentioned needing separate spaces, making sure accessible restrooms are available and wanting the ability to provide multiple programs throughout the day.

"With the types of programming that we do, just having the space that's appropriate for those types of programs," she said.

New Gahanna city building is long time coming

City Council president Stephen Renner said in the release that city leaders have been working for a long time on "trying to make Gahanna something better and make Gahanna stronger."

"This facility allows us to look 50 to 75 years down the road in finding the solutions to meet what we need for our public servants to do their jobs, with enough space and with modern offices, to actually build the type of Gahanna that we want," he said.

The move won't come with a request for higher taxes, Jadwin has said.

"This is what Issue 12 was designed to handle," she said. "So there will be no need for any levy or any other tax initiative to come forward should this project be voted upon by council to proceed.”

Issue 12, approved by voters in 2019, changed the city’s income-tax rate from 1.5% to 2.5% and increased the tax credit from 83.33% to 100% for those who pay municipal taxes elsewhere.

ThisWeek reporter Marla K. Kuhlman contributed to this story.

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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Gahanna moves forward with purchase of Tech Center Drive site