ATHENS, Ohio — With the opening of the new Athens Fire Department headquarters on Stimson Avenue last fall, the former AFD station on Columbus Road hasn’t been used in months.
A temporary exception to the building’s disuse came during the winter, when The Gathering Place, a peer support program, established a facility-use agreement with the city to open the building as an emergency warming shelter. That agreement ended in March, and the building has sat empty since.
But that may change soon, with the city of Athens considering two options for the building’s future use.
Major Crimes Unit office and storage space
The city is leaning toward using the building for storage and office space to support the Athens County Major Crimes Unit.
The MCU is a joint task force made up of law enforcement officers from the Nelsonville Police Department, Athens Police Department, Ohio University Police Department, Athens County Prosecutor’s Office, and Athens County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Rodney Smith told the Independent that the MCU has interest in using the former fire station, because the MCU does not have sufficient space at the Sheriff’s Office Equipment Facility it currently uses on Sand Ridge Road.
APD Police Chief Nick Magruder originally approached the city with interest in using the facility for the MCU, according to minutes from Friday, May 23 Athens Community Improvement Corporation meeting. Magruder could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
Because the former fire station would still be used for public safety purposes, there would be significantly less upgrades necessary when compared to other options.
However, Stone said the building would still need some work. For instance, the city would need to remodel the living quarters, which were used by firefighters, into office spaces.
Stone said while no decisions are final, the city will likely use the space for the MCU because he thinks the city can make the necessary improvements with an existing budget, “so it won’t cost very much to create a space for [the MCU].”
Commercial use
Another option the city is considering is transferring the building to the Athens CIC so that the building could be used for commercial purposes.
CICs are private nonprofit organizations that are organized by municipalities under chapters 1702 and 1724 of the Ohio Revised Code to support community economic development.
Ohio’s Constitution allows CICs to manage, construct and improve buildings for commercial use. In 2022, Athens created its CIC, one of over 300 CICs in the state of Ohio.
Service-Safety Director Andy Stone said there are some roadblocks with Athens’ CIC leasing the former fire station to a new business.
“Trouble is the costs associated with getting it to a level that would be necessary for a proper commercial use,” Stone said.
According to Athens CIC meeting minutes from May 23, an architect evaluated the property and concluded that upgrades would cost $250,000–300,000. Stone said the upgrades were necessary to bring the building up to Ohio’s commercial building code standards.
Some of the costs would include new flooring, electrical upgrades, repairs to the HVAC system and repainting walls.
The building would also need work to comply with The Americans with Disabilities Act standards for public use.
The city has already spent a great deal of money on the building over the years. Between 2005 and 2021, when AFD still used the former station, WOUB reported the city had spent over $500,000 to repair the structural integrity of the building. The building was literally falling down due to its position on a hill and the heavy weights of fire trucks.
Since then, with the addition of support walls, steel beams, and removing fire trucks from the second floor, Stone said he was not “concerned about that problem.”
Stone told the Independent that the business that was interested in leasing the space could not afford the rent associated with the costs of proposed upgrades, property taxes and insurance.
Stone said he could not share the name of the prospective tenant or the city’s proposed rent with the Independent. Business negotiations are not covered by Ohio Sunshine Laws.
Combined with the fact that the city-owned building would be subject to property tax liabilities, the Athens CIC deemed during its May 23 meeting that commercial use would be “less viable at this time.”
