The vacant former Greyhound bus station downtown could soon have a new tenant: the city of Toledo.
The city’s division of engineering services is asking city council to approve a 12-year lease agreement with Water Street Development, LLC, owned by local developer Dave Ball, so the division can move from its current location at One Lake Erie Center to the former bus station at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Michigan Street — directly adjacent to the Pythian Castle, which Mr. Ball also owns.
The proposed lease agreement is for $38,914 per month for the first five years and $30,214 per month for the remaining seven. The monthly rent includes parking.
Doug Stephens, engineering services administrator, said the additional fees for the first five years are to pay for the installation of employee work stations, equipment for a large conference room, and communications and data infrastructure. Mr. Stephens said the conference room can double as a space to hold public meetings about upcoming projects or as a space to hold day-long conferences.
“I think it’s going to be a really good location and gives us the opportunity for expansion in the future,” he said. “We’re looking to enter into an agreement so that they can begin doing the build-out on this, hopefully by the end of this year.”
The deal hinges on Mr. Ball paying the $18,000 in property taxes owed on the property, and likely the $2,000 in property taxes owed on the Pythian Castle.
“I don’t believe city council will approve it, nor should it, if Mr. Ball isn’t current on his taxes,” Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said.
Lucas County’s online property records on Thursday showed Mr. Ball paid his $2,000 bill on Tuesday, but the $18,000 is still outstanding. Mr. Ball said both tax bills were paid in full and guessed the database had not yet been updated to reflect that.
Mr. Ball acquired the Pythian Castle from the Lucas County Land Bank in 2016 to redevelop alongside the Greyhound building, which he already owned. The nonprofit gave him a $276,000 loan and a deadline to get a roof on the aging structure. The November, 2019 deadline came and went, but the Land Bank granted Mr. Ball an extension to finish the roof and to make the building habitable.
The roof must now be on by late February and the building must be safe, nuisance-free, and ready to attract tenants by Nov. 30, 2020.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz — who came under fire from political opponents when he accepted free office space from Mr. Ball while he was chair of the land bank during his 2017 mayoral campaign — said moving engineering services to the former Greyhound building has the potential to be a win for several parties.
The Eyde family, which owns downtown’s One Lake Erie Center where engineering services currently rents space, needs the city to vacate its portion of the building so they can repair lingering damage from a burst pipe in 2018 and then redevelop the structure into a mix of residential and commercial.
Engineering services needs a building with parking and a large meeting space, and the Greyhound building needs a tenant.
“We believe that having the Greyhound station occupied and vibrant will assist in the redevelopment of the Pythian Castle, which is important to our community regardless of who is developing it,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said.
City Council has not yet voted on the proposed lease agreement because District 1 Councilman Tyrone Riley requested more information from city officials about the deal. He said he wants to know if officials researched other options or considered buying a space to renovate and own.
“I just want to make sure that engineering services does their due diligence in finding the best location for them to move,” he said. “They’re making a sizable investment, and I want to make sure they have explored all options.”
Mr. Stephens said he did consider other options, including moving to One Government Center or Four SeaGate downtown, but part of the draw of the old Greyhound building is the secure, 100-space parking lot on site. The division has 33 work vehicles, plus 65 employees with their own vehicles they need to park, he said.
The price is in line with the division’s current budget, he added.
He said engineering services pays monthly rent, including parking fees, between $30,000 and $31,000 now, and the monthly price of parking is going to go up by about $3,400 beginning in 2020.
Mr. Ball refuted the notion that a potential lease agreement with the city was done as a favor to ensure a rent-paying tenant would be in the Greyhound site while the costly Pythian Castle work moves forward.
“This is the only building that works downtown. It’s the right size, and most importantly it has the parking spaces that they need,” he said. “This is really a good thing for downtown. It’s going to be a catalyst for other development on this little section that can use it.”
First Published December 19, 2019, 8:23 p.m.
