That leaves the city with the former Bank One, First National Bank, Masonic Temple and Manchester Inn & Conference Center buildings in its portfolio of downtown buildings. And as the city begins to look at the future of these buildings, the Art Central Foundation is asking the city to consider selling or donating the former Masonic Temple to them.
“We approached the city of Middletown last year about acquiring the property for continued use by the foundation,” said Jim Edwards, vice president of the Art Central Foundation. “Our goal here is to have a permanent home for our organization, its programs and to help in the revitalization of the downtown area.”
The Art Central Foundation has been in its building at 4 N. Main St. for four years, first being tenants of the late Perry Thatcher, who died in December 2010, and now tenants of the city. The foundation is only charged by the city the cost to maintain the building, which was $14,573 in 2011.
Officials with the Art Central Foundation would like to make improvements, including adding an elevator to the property, but doesn’t want to invest if they don’t have a long-term future at the site.
“We don’t want to sink money into a building that’s not ours. That’s not fiscally responsible,” said Art Central Foundation president Sue Wittman, who added that the organization has suspended and moved events from the building because of the uncertainty. “The building suits our purposes beautifully.”
The city had purchased the former CG&E, Bank One, First National, Masonic Temple buildings in October 2010 for $300,000 and the Manchester Inn & Conference Center in February 2011 for $175,000. And while city leaders will debate how to unload the buildings — since they don’t want to be in the property ownership business according to Mayor Larry Mulligan.
Mulligan said the city needs to evaluate all of its downtown properties and determine their best uses.
“It could very well be that the Art Central Foundation acquires (the former Masonic Temple building),” he said. “There are a lot of options that we’ll probably be considering. We don’t need to be in any rush to do anything.”
A contingent of supporters of the Art Central Foundation addressed council last week, including Cynda Kash, a board member with Citizens for Historical and Preservation Services of Butler County. She was also concerned with the fate of the Manchester Inn and former First National Bank building.
“We know they’re mothballed, but as my experience as a preservationist, that’s just a forerunner of saying a building is deteriorating and has to come down,” she said.
The city spent $297,000 to maintain the buildings in 2011. Those payments included $172,330 in utilities and $74,800 for maintenance, which included one-time mothballing costs for the Manchester Inn and First National Bank properties. The city also collected $173,200 in rent revenues from tenants in the former Bank One, First National Bank and Masonic Temple buildings. One of those tenants is the Art Central Foundation.
The city stands to be paid $202,000 when the Cincinnati State deal is completed and Higher Education Partners purchases the CG&E building to develop the college’s downtown campus.
“We obviously want to make sure the Cincinnati State deal is inked and they have the buildings that they need before we consider putting buildings on the market or donating buildings,” Gilleland said.
The city’s contract with Higher Education Partners does hinge on the separate agreement Higher Education has with Cincinnati State. The city’s contract will only be sign once Cincinnati State signs its deal.
City officials are fine-tuning a contract they are set to sign with Cincinnati State’s developer, Higher Education Partners, and that agreement hinges on the developer and school signing their contract.
The former CG&E building is one of five city-owned properties in downtown that were former privately owned buildings. And once all contracts are signed in the Cincinnati State deal, City Manager Judy Gilleland said phase two of shaping downtown will begin — selling off the remaining city-owned buildings that were purchased in anticipation of Cincinnati State’s downtown campus.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or michael.pitman@coxinc.com. Follow at
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