Committee backs 5-year lease renewal for Archives Building at Halley Industrial Park

The Cuyahoga County Public Works Procurement and Contracting Committee on July 30 approved Resolution 20250268 authorizing an amendment with Halley Industrial Park LLC to renew the county's lease of space at the Archives Building, 1890 East 40th Street in Cleveland.

John Myers, Public Works, told the committee the amendment would extend the lease for five years for roughly 222,000 square feet and described the total county cost for the five-year term as $8.5 million. "We are seeking authority to enter into an amendment with the Halley Industrial Park LLC for a 5 year renewal, at the Archives Building at East Fortieth And Perkins approximately 222,000 square feet. The total is 8 and a half million for the next 5 years," Myers said.

Myers said the county and several departments use the building: the county archives occupies a floor-and-a-half; the Board of Elections retains substantial space for operations and storage; Health and Human Services uses a floor for records storage; and the prosecutor's ICAC division uses part of a floor. Myers said space charges are allocated to each department based on the percentage of building area they occupy. He identified Greystone Properties (the Asher family) as the building owner.

Myers described components of the five-year cost: he said the request includes roughly $5.5 million in rent, about $1 million in capital expenses, and about $2 million in operating expenses, which the presenter broke down to approximately $3.4 million per year to operate the building in current terms. He said the county previously upgraded two freight elevators in the last two years and that further capital expenses are anticipated to be built into the authority sought.

Committee members asked about roofing and building-envelope responsibility; Myers said the envelope (roof and walls) remained the landlord's responsibility and that the roof was reported to be in good shape, though he could not specify the date of the last major roof work. Myers also said the county has used the building for more than a decade and that staff would likely seek periodic third-party condition assessments if the county pursued acquisition in the future. "The building is is the county's for $1," Myers said when describing an expected future acquisition process at the end of a long-term occupancy; he attributed that statement to the context of negotiated long-term terms and future renewal options.

Councilwoman Conwell requested second-reading suspension to expedite the measure; the committee voted to favorably recommend the resolution for passage on second-reading suspension.