CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — While the fate of the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building is still unknown, the future for the nonprofits inside has been finalized.
A quick recap: The nine core nonprofit tenants of the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building failed to extend their 18-month leases by an April deadline.
Those nonprofits include:
- Artful
- Building Bridges
- Cleveland Heights Teacher’s Union
- Coventry PEACE Inc.
- Future Heights
- Grace Communion
- Lake Erie Ink
- Reaching Heights
Three recently signed tenants include:
- People’s Choice Payee Services
- DanceCleveland
- Do Good Day Hub
Over the last several months, those nonprofits and the owner of the building, Heights Libraries, have gone back and forth over a solution.
An 18-month extension was denied earlier this year.
One of the most recent suggestions was allowing Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Inc. to buy the building for a “symbolic” $1. The Board unanimously rejected that.
RELATED: 'Would be massive loss': Heights Libraries Board rejects $1 purchase of Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building
Heights Libraries Board members agreed to a six-month-long study to figure out the best course of action for the building.
An independent engineering firm is finalizing a report that will include cost estimates. That report will be presented to the Heights Libraries Board in January.
“We've had three options. One is finding a new purpose for the building. Number two is maybe perhaps finding a new tenant for the building. The third option would be to eventually demolish the building. We would not approach that without some serious deliberation and right now, that's not on the table because we have a tenant who will still be there,” Levin stated.
In the meantime, the nine core nonprofits residing in the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building were operating on a 6-month lease set to expire on Dec. 31.
But now, those leases expire on Jan. 31.
“We gave them an extra month because we didn't want them to have to leave during the holidays,” Levin said.
As for the three remaining tenants who signed a new lease this year, Levin explained two of them will also leave by the end of January.
“Dance Cleveland never fully moved in. They negotiated with us to end their lease by Jan. 31, and they will be moving to a new location. The People's Choice Financial Services has also talked to us and they will also be leaving by January 31st with no real problem,” Levin stated.
Do Good Day Hub will operate within the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building beyond that timeframe as they’re “a little bit more complicated.”
“[It] is an organization that serves people with disabilities who have aged out of the school system. They have about eight clients that will be served at the beginning and they have a Medicaid license that is dependent upon the site,” Levin shared. “We will continue to stay in touch with them and see if we can help them find a suitable location later in the year.”
The Executive Director of Artful, Shannon Morris, expressed how disappointed she is that Heights Libraries couldn’t reach an agreement with the nonprofits.
RELATED: 'Do not tear that building down': 6-month timer to decide the fate of Coventry PEACE Building starts
“[It’s] logistically terrifying. We have to dismantle 24 art studios and take them with us as well as move all those artists and have rent to pay on top of it,” she explained. “We've all started packing. We are in varying degrees of that. It's been a wonderful place to be and it's a shame we couldn't make it work.”
Morris said Lake Erie Inc. and the Cleveland Heights Teacher’s Union have found new locations but that everyone else is still negotiating a deal.
“We can't disclose what it is yet, but we are hopefully moving somewhere by the end of January,” she added.
To close out this chapter of Artful, the organization will host a lantern festival on Saturday, Dec. 14.
“It’s in combination with the entire merchant district. We start [at the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Building] making lanterns all day and then we process down with giant puppets and drums. The police block off the street and we go all the way down Coventry and come back,” Morris detailed. “It’ll be the end of this celebration. Hopefully we’ll do that again. It just won’t be here. This won’t be our home base, but we plan to continue everything we’ve done here at the next place.”
We’ll continue to follow through.
