PAINESVILLE, Ohio — The City of Painesville is currently working to revitalize the downtown area, but it comes at a cost.
City of Painesville City Manager, Doug Lewis told News 5 the city is investing more than $100 million within the city.
$25 million of that is allocated toward the Lake Erie College building. Another $4 million went towards road improvements.
A big project the city has been lending a hand in is the Victoria Place Building.
The City of Painesville purchased the property in June 2023, according to the Lake County Auditor. Property ownership was then transferred to “Vic Place LLC” shortly after.
Approximately $25 million will be invested into revamping the Victoria Place Building.
“They'd like to do 78-at-rate apartments, 40,000 square foot of new office space which is upgraded office space in the city,” Lewis stated. “We found there's a real need for that as well as restaurants within the building.”
Lewis explained the need for improvements and modernization came from office space users unable to find adequate office space within Painesville.
“By having that additional office space, once they are looking to upgrade their office space, that will be available for them. Hopefully we'll be able to attract new users,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the Victoria Place Building renovations have been on the table for a couple of years, but the developer is now finalizing the financing and plans to move forward before the end of 2024.
It all comes at a cost, though. And the Hope Chest of Lake County is right in the thick of it.
“Some of the tenants will remain and other tenants, once their lease has expired, will probably end up moving out of the building because the cost for them to stay within the building once it's renovated will be too expensive,” Lewis added. “With all the improvements in downtown, obviously, it's also increasing the value of office space or space within the downtown. That makes it difficult.
The Hope Chest of Lake County currently pays $500/month for 2,300 square feet. It’s a price tag that could no longer be offered after its lease ends in November of 2025.
“[The Victoria Place Building] just [doesn’t] have any more space. The other people that are downstairs right now, they've really taken up everything and we're looking for a large amount of space. We thought it wouldn't be a problem. We really thought there would be enough storefront or warehouse space or something that we would be able to move fairly easily to. But we've already been looking for a year and nothing's been available. We need to be close to our clients,” the Hope Chest of Lake County Trustees President, Jan Milazzotto said.
The Hope Chest of Lake County has been around for about six decades. Almost 15 years of that has been inside the Victoria Place Building.
“It was started by teachers in the area whose classes were small because kids weren't coming to school. They didn't have things to wear. These teachers got together and at first started out of the trunk of their cars [and] graduated to one of the teacher’s garages. Then they moved to a storefront. At one point they were in a building that used to be [in downtown Painesville] that had a fire. And in 2010, the owner of Victoria Place at that point invited us to come and have our store in Victoria Place,” Milazzotto explained.
Milazzotto told News 5 she feels absolute joy and happiness being able to help families over the decade she’s been a part of the organization.
From household items to clothes, the Hope Chest of Lake County has it all.
“We want to be on a bus line if that's possible. We'd rather stay in Painesville because most of our clients are from here, but we'll keep our fingers crossed,” Milazzotto added.
The nonprofit’s operations will not pause as it looks to relocate.
“They're keeping lights on in the hallway where we are located. They are keeping the elevators running so that we can get up and down to the third floor. We also send all of our clothing that we can't use or out of season things. We recycle those things. They've been good about allowing us to use the loading dock area and making sure that the big garage doors are up, so there's no disruption to the services,” Milazzotto stated.
Milazzotto explained they knew the day for relocation was coming, so the nonprofit has been saving more money.
“We do like to buy new shoes for students, clean underwear for our clients. Those are things we've always been able to buy because our rent is so low. Now, we're going to have to do either fundraising or maybe find a company that's willing to help us out with the rent so that we can continue to do what we've been doing for almost 60 years,” Milazzotto added.
Milazzotto’s message to those families the Hope Chest of Lake County serves is, “Don't be nervous yet. It'll happen. It'll happen.”
The City of Painesville has been working with the nonprofit in hopes of finding a new location as well but hasn’t had any luck so far.
“Hope Chest definitely provides a benefit to the residents of Painesville and Lake County. It would be a benefit to keep them here,” said Lewis. “One of the things we did recommend is taking a look at some of the churches and then talking with them to see if any space is available.”
If you’d like to financially donate to the Hope Chest of Lake County to help cover expenses, checks can be made payable to Hope Chest at 1 Victoria Place, Suite 321 in Painesville, Ohio 440077.
Physical donations can be dropped off Monday through Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The Victoria Place Building renovations are expected to take one to two years.
