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Cafaro Sr. Glad to Leave Mahoning County Behind
NILES, Ohio – Anthony Cafaro Sr. made clear Tuesday he is ready to leave Mahoning County.
“We have belonged here [Niles] for a long time. We should have been here years ago,” he said at a press event announcing the relocation of the Cafaro Co.’s headquarters to the Eastwood Mall Complex and construction of a new hotel on the mall property (READ COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT).
Cafaro’s comments appeared aimed at Mahoning County officials, with whom he clashed over plans to relocate the county Department of Job and Family Services from the McGuffey Mall, and at The Vindicator.
The retired Cafaro Co. president told company employees, local officials, reporters and causal observers viewing the ceremony, staged at the mall’s Center Court, there are “many, many reasons” to be pleased the company is moving from its landmark building on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown. Among them is the company “will be in an area where we have many friends, true friends, sincere friends, friends who know what we stand for, friends who appreciate us.”
Throughout Niles and Trumbull County, Cafaro continued, “we are always congratulated on our successes by the residents,” who are “happy to share in any good fortune that we might have” and “don’t go out of their way to find fault with the Cafaro family nor with the Cafaro Co. and we appreciate that a great deal.” He also cited the company’s “excellent working relationship” with Niles and Trumbull County officials.
“We appreciate that relationship where they invite us, they encourage us to make investment in Trumbull County. They have shown over and over again they will work in partnership with us for the betterment of the local economy,” he said.
In an apparent jab at The Vindicator, and its reporting and commentary about the criminal indictments surrounding Mahoning County’s decision to end its lease at McGuffey, Cafaro praised the Tribune Chronicle in Warren. While that coverage has sometimes been “tough and pointed,” as it should be, he said, “It is always fair, it is objective and it is balanced coverage. They don’t mix editorial comment with facts of a story.”
Cafaro would not elaborate on his remarks following the ceremony nor would his son, Anthony Cafaro Jr., co-president of the Cafaro Co. with his brother, William, who said the focus of Tuesday’s event was Niles and Trumbull County.
“It’s not really why we’re here today to talk about the past,” Cafaro Jr. said. “We’re more concerned about talking about the future and the future is here at Eastwood Mall Complex and in the city of Niles,” he said.
The total value of the projects announced Tuesday is $30 million, the company said.
Design work for the Niles corporate headquarters -- officially confirmed yesterday but widely known for months -- began about 24 months ago, the younger Cafaro said. Construction has been underway for about 10 months. “We anticipate that it will be completed and we will be able to move in sometime in mid- to late 2015,” he said. Some 200 employees will be located in the new three-story headquarters, which will be attached to the Eastwood Mall.
Meanwhile, the announcement of the new hotel property -- a Hampton Inn & Suites, to be operated by TMI Hospitality of Fargo, N.D. -- comes just a few months after the opening of the Residence Inn, which TMI also operates.
“The Residence Inn opened very successfully” and TMI “realized that there was greater demand than what the supply was with just that single hotel,” Cafaro said. “They’ve been experiencing tremendous occupancy at that hotel,” from business and leisure travelers alike.
The new hotel will be built on the site of the Eastwood Expo Center. Demolition is to begin early next year to make way for the hotel, which is expected to open in 2016.
Events that might otherwise have been scheduled for the expo center can be held in other mall properties as well as the new Eastwood Conference Center, which will be attached to the main mall building, new company headquarters and Residence Inn. The conference center also should open in late 2015.
Between the new hotel and headquarters relocation, Niles should realize an additional $300,000 in income tax collections, Mayor Ralph Infante said.
“From a mall operations standpoint, it’s terrific to have the additional shoppers here on the mall property and the additional business,” said Matt Boarts, Eastwood Mall Complex property manager. “It really is a good thing for everybody involved.”
Because the construction projects are segregated from the main part of the mall, work shouldn’t cause complications as the holiday shopping season approaches, mall and company officials said.
“Most of the work is occurring outside in an area that is not really accessible to patrons. Most of the deliveries of the construction materials are occurring in off hours,” Anthony Cafaro Jr. said.
“We’re accustomed to working around the activity of a shopping center,” he continued. “Oftentimes there are new stores and buildings going up so it's really just business as usual for us.”
No decisions have been made on the Belmont Avenue headquarters building, Cafaro Jr. said.
“We are in the real estate business so we’re hoping to find another user, whether they would wish to purchase the building or lease it,” he said. “We certainly don’t want that building to sit empty very long, and with all the changes that are going on in and around that part of the region with Vallourec just down the street from us we think that there is an opportunity to find an adaptive reuse for it.”
Pictured: Anthony Cafaro Jr., Anthony Cafaro Sr. and William Cafaro.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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