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Cafaro Co. Confirms It's Moving HQ from the City
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- After 64 years, the Cafaro Co. is planning to move its corporate headquarters – and its nearly 200 employees -- from the city to an as yet undetermined location, the company confirms.
"Within 24 months, we'll be moving from our current office building," at 2445 Belmont Ave. on Youngstown's North Side, said spokesman Joe Bell.
Just where the mall developer's new headquarters will be remains uncertain, but the company is in discussions with the city of Niles about a possible site at the company's Eastwood Mall Complex, Bell said.
A demolition permit to raze a portion of the mall that is unused and close to where a new hotel is under development was filed by the Cafaro Co. with the city of Niles' building department, Bell reported.
"It's to prep for two scenarios," Bell said. One is to demolish a portion of the large mall and expand a banquet center now under construction and add professional offices. "Another would be a three-story office building for us. The planning for that is still in process."
The Cafaro Co., one of the largest commercial real estate developers in the country, was founded in 1949 in Youngstown and built its current corporate offices on Belmont Avenue in 1960, Bell said. It recently auctioned its Garland Plaza and McGuffey Mall properties in the city, and several years ago sold the Ross Industrial Park on the East Side.
The company still owns and operates the Union Square Plaza on the corner of Gypsy Lane and Belmont in Youngstown.
As for the relocation, "We've been considering it for a long time, and it was just a matter of moving ahead," Bell noted. The Cafaro building, he added, is showing its age and retrofitting the existing offices with new technology proved challenging. "We're also packed in and we're really filled up here. We need something that meets the needs of a modern office," he said.
Bell added that there's been open speculation over the last several years about Cafaro moving its main offices out of Youngstown. That's led to some early inquiries from others that might be interested in the Belmont Avenue building.
"It's led to one entity contacting us about using the building," Bell said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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