A week after he was told Irwin chose not to renew its lease of the Main Street building where the borough’s offices are on the second floor, Rosendahl’s Appliance Center owner Gary Proctor said he’s still trying to figure out what he’s going to do.
Rosendahl’s is a fixture in downtown Irwin.
It’s been at 424 Main St. since the 1960s, according to Justin Rosendahl, the great-grandson of the store’s founder. It was in other buildings on Main Street since its founding in 1883, according to historical records.
The borough offices and police station are on the building’s second floor, which means they don’t comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Last year, the borough hired an architect to develop plans for the building because it can’t find drawings from when it was built more than 100 years ago.
But it wasn’t until last week that borough officials told Proctor the Rosendahl’s lease would not be renewed and the business would have to leave March 31, Proctor said.
He’s not angered by council’s decision to move the offices but is upset that he was not given more advance warning of the decision to terminate the lease, Proctor said.
The borough defended its decision in a statement released Monday.
“The tenant … has been aware of the plan for years” while allowing design professionals to measure the space in the first floor, the borough said.
The borough charged Proctor $21,000 for rent this year.
The borough has wanted to move the administrative offices and police department to ground level because neither is accessible to those with mobility issues. The government offices are 25 steps above Main Street, and the police department is two flights of stairs above an alley entrance.
Installing an elevator is not feasible, given the constraints of the layout, the borough said.
A real estate committee toured vacant and suitable buildings throughout the borough and negotiated with property owners, but those talks fell through, according to the borough statement.
The borough decided it would be prohibitively expensive to buy property and renovate space for the government offices that would be handicapped accessible and to do so would require raising property taxes, according to the statement.
Borough Manager Shari Martino declined to comment beyond the statement.
The borough said it wants the offices to remain on Main Street so they will be visible to the community and offer convenient public access.
Irwin put the project in motion last week when it awarded a contract to Civil & Environmental Consultants of Monroeville to perform architectural design and engineering work at a cost of no more than $97,000. The company anticipates advertising for bids in April.
To pay for the renovation project, council authorized Martino to apply for a $450,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development.