Elyria seeks Council approval to buy Broad Street building

ELYRIA — Elyria officials want to buy the former Powerhouse Gym building on Broad Street for bigger plans but are keeping quiet about the details for now. Mayor Holly Brinda called the building, 419 Broad St., one of the "most historic cornerstones on the square," at Monday's joint City Council Community Development and Finance committee meeting. The city is in negotiations with the property owner, John Dixon Jr. Brinda said there is a larger downtown Elyria redevelopment plan that is in the works with potential investors and developers. The former Powerhouse Gym is "within the block of consideration," Brinda said. Brinda said she cannot say much yet on what the plans will be. She said there are a number of people interested in buying the building. The funds for buying the building would come from Issue 6 economic development dollars. It will cost $150,000, which Brinda said is below market value because of some badly needed rehabilitation on the second and third floors. Brinda said she foresees the rehabilitation being a public and private partnership, but she said that depends on the usage of the building. It would cost about $180,000 to rehab the upper floors. "If you look at the historic buildings that are downtown, this is probably, aside from City Hall, the most important building that we have," Brinda said. "It's important to maintain the bones of the property and to make sure that it fits into a larger strategy, which we believe it does." Those second and third floors could be used for residential with the first floor being a mixed-use. Brinda said she's hoping to have a draft plan and design and will involve the developers in it and then possibly present it at a City Council meeting this month. Kenny Oswald, the incoming 4th Ward councilman, asked why the city would need to purchase the building if there's already a developer interested who can buy it. Oswald said he wouldn't feel comfortable saying buying the building is a good idea if he were a sitting councilman. Brinda responded that the city needs to make some form of investment to reassure the investors who have taken a risk in investing downtown. She said this shows investors that the city is serious about redeveloping downtown. "If it was the only project happening on Broad Street, I would say don't do this, but it isn't. There are some really wonderful things starting to happen. We have a number of new investors downtown. We're going to be seeing some really exciting developments," she said. Powerhouse Gym closed its operations in downtown Elyria and moved into the Grafton Health Fitness and Events Center in September. The building is still owned by the Dixons, who ran Powerhouse Gym. Long before Powerhouse Gym, the building was the C.H. Merthe Company department store. The issue passed committee with a unanimous vote and will go before Council at its last meeting before the new year Monday, Dec. 16. Contact Laina Yost at (440) 329-7121 or lyost@chroniclet.com. Follow her on Twitter @misslainamae.