Parking Deck Purchase Fits with EGCC Growth Plan
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The $3 million purchase of the downtown Plaza Parking garage by Higher Education Partners is an integral part of Eastern Gateway Community College's expansion in the region, officials say.
"It puts an exclamation mark on our business plans," says Laura Meeks, president of Eastern Gateway.
Higher Education Partners, based in Providence, R.I., is the development partner with EGCC. The company has a 20-year agreement with the college, and the deal insures that EGCC has a presence downtown for at least the next 20 years, Meeks notes.
EGCC converted space at the parking garage two years ago into classrooms and administrative offices to house its Valley Centre. The project is ongoing, and the college wants to add eight additional classrooms in anticipation of future growth, Meeks says.
"We're very sure we'll continue to grow," she adds. More than 1,000 students attend classes at the Youngstown site.
Meeks says EGCC is committed to delivering high quality education to its students, while HEP is committed to developing related assets in downtown. "We'll see the need to move into additional buildings in the future," in Youngstown and Warren, she notes. "We make a nice partnership."
USA Plaza Parking LLC, an entity of the Frangos Group, will still operate and manage the parking garage, and private tenants such as Los Gallos, a Mexican restaurant that recently opened, would remain, says Damon Frangos, USA Parking's vice president and general counsel.
Frangos says HEP approached the company a couple months ago about possibly purchasing the building at 53 S. Champion St. "It helps sustain them and they said they'd rather own than lease," he reports.
The sale closed Thursday, Frangos notes.
USA Parking has operated the deck since 2001, and officially purchased it in 2006 for $2 million, Frangos says. Since EGCC announced it would move into the building, USA Parking has spent at least $1.2 million over the last two years upgrading the deck.
"We've done all the concrete repairs, modernized the elevators, improved the stairwells, things like that," Frangos says.
The garage holds about 1,000 vehicles and has about 40,000 square-feet of retail space on the ground level, he notes.
Higher Education Partners Vice President Bill Luster said in a statement that his organization looks "forward to a long relationship with the Frangos Group on this and hopefully other projects."
Plaza Parking's sale to HEP leaves The Frangos Group with ownership of just the Chase Building and a small lot on West Boardman Street downtown.
Lou Frangos, president of Cleveland-based USA Parking Systems and the Frangos Group, said in a statement that the company is "very pleased to participate as a partner in the significant growth of Eastern Gateway over the last two years. What Dr. Meeks and her team are doing for learners of all ages in our community is very gratifying and is a major boost to Youngstown's economy."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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