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Office building razed on West Orange Street
(by Barbara Christian - July 14, 2010)
Office building razed on West Orange Street
By BARBARA CHRISTIAN
The blue office building at 32 W. Orange St. in Chagrin Falls, formerly owned by the village, came tumbling down on July 8 to make way for a 10-unit townhouse development.
The village sold the building and three adjacent lots to builder-developer Robert Vitt for $467,000. The transfer date was June 18, according to the Cuyahoga County Auditor's Office.
Chagrin Falls Finance Director David Bloom said Monday the village has received the money.
Mr. Vitt also purchased two neighboring lots at 48 and 50 W. Orange St. from Larry Shibley for $270,000. Mr. Shibley, a commercial property owner and proprietor of Yours Truly restaurants, paid $160,000 for the properties in 1988. Those properties also transferred June 18, according to the auditor's office.
Mr. Vitt also plans to build a single-family home on the westernmost lot.
The land transfers mark the end of a yearlong process during which Mr. Vitt received zoning variances, including a change of use from office to residential for the property at the east end at the corner of Williams Street.
Mr. Vitt and the village struck a deal last winter, and then Ohio Environmental Protection Agency inspections and approvals were necessary.
The village paid $812,000 over about a five-year period for the West Orange Street properties. The original plan was to sell the properties to a developer who would turn it into a downtown "gateway," featuring retail, residential and office uses.
Russell Berusch, a real estate consultant hired by the village to guide the decision making, advised the village that the $467,000 price tag was not out of line in the current down real estate market.
Mr. Shibley had first been tapped by the village as buyer of the village-owned properties and developer of those properties as well as his next door.
Mr. Shibley also was given variances, which included a number of nonexistent parking spaces. Those would accommodate an office building which had been planned to replace the blue office building. A small retail area was scrubbed earlier in the planning.
After months of waiting for him to close on the deal, the village accepted Mr. Shibley's resignation from the project. The down economy and lack of loans for building projects were blamed, Mayor Thomas Brick had said.
Mr. Shibley then identified Mr. Vitt as a possible replacement. During discussions with the village, Mr. Vitt had said he would not need a building loan because his company intended to finance the development.
During the process, Valerie Bertsch had said that her Williams Street home, which is located directly behind the proposed townhouses, would lose its view of the downtown neighborhood and her property would lose value.
Mrs. Bertsch appeared at most meetings involving Mr. Vitt's development, but the variances and plans were approved despite her opposition.
In the end, council said the residential use was more in keeping with Mrs. Bertsch's home and was an improvement, not a downgrade.
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