Center Albany - New Ownership

Center Albany

ALBANY — The Albany Community Center has a new owner and has been renamed Center Albany. Sale of the village-owned building to Center Albany Ltd. was recently finalized.

The village has been trying to sell the building, a former elementary school, for more than two years. At a June bid opening, the high bid of $206,000 came from C. Norwood Deems of Columbus. At the time, Charles Deems said that the property would be managed by Capstone Property Management Ltd. of Athens,

On Thursday, Bob Prebe of Capstone said the owner wants to retain all the existing tenants, including a senior citizens group that uses the building. Other tenants include Sound Health, the Athens County Board of Elections (storage space) and the Athens-Meigs Educational Service Center.

Prebe said efforts will be made to find tenants for the remaining vacant spaces. At this point, though, Capstone is in an information-gathering stage, including evaluating mechanical systems in the building, Prebe said.

Prebe said the property will be known as Center Albany.

The village has not yet moved its offices from the building.

Mayor Georganne Thomas said the village is waiting for a state occupancy permit for the modular buildings on the former school property. The modulars were not included in the sale.

“The main goal is to move in and get Council chambers and offices in the center unit,” Thomas said. It will house the offices of the street, water and sewer departments, the fiscal officer, the mayor and police department.

Thomas said the remaining two units will be used for storage.

The $206,000 from the sale will be used for village operating expenses, Thomas said. There were two other bidders on the property in June. Local realtor Matt Gaiser bid $147,500, and a Capstone-affiliated company quoted prices of $136,500 with the modulars and $116,500 if the village retained and moved its offices into the modulars, Thomas said previously.

While the village was getting revenue from renting space when it owned the building, the high cost of utilities and the potential for major repairs were concerns, officials have said in the past.