“It was really a no brainer and it’s a very good use. It will bring a new business to Liberty instead of it sitting there empty,” Farrell told the Journal-News.
Originally, the trustees intended to repurpose the 3.6-acre property for a new administration center, but the $1.8 million price to ready the land for construction forced them to change course. The township built the new administration center that opened last summer in the commercial section of the Carriage Hill subdivision. The building cost $4.8 million — including $954,000 for the land — on Ohio 747 between Princeton and Millikin roads.
According to its website Conexus is a small, global provider of cabling and connectivity products and professional services. The representative who signed the purchase agreement could not be reached for comment.
Trustee Steve Schramm said officials wondered how many offers would come for the site that is “in the middle of nowhere.” But there is a dock area in the back of the building, dating to when it was feed store “that they can re-engage.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he said.
He said the township saved about $500,000 by switching sites for the administration center, and with this money, the township saved taxpayers nearly $1 million.
Trustee Christine Matacic said the deal needs to be finalized, and a rezoning is necessary. At one point the township considered holding onto the property as a possible future fire station.
“That is not going to be the proper site for some additional facilities, as well as we’ve seen it’s going to cost a lot more money to make it ready,” she said. “It’s best to divest ourselves of those types of properties when we can, so that we are not incurring additional expenses in the long run.”
The township also owns real estate on Cincinnati Dayton Road where the new Fire Station 112 was originally going to be built. The new station is under construction near the intersection of Cincinnati Dayton and Princeton roads and that location was deemed better coverage and response time-wise. Matacic and Schramm said previously they will likely hold onto that property a while longer.
If the proposed Milikin Road Interchange at Interstate 75 is eventually built that, $384,000 piece of property will appreciate in value.
“I said let’s just hold that one because if and when Millikin goes in that price will double or triple and we’ll certainly get our money back,” Schramm said. “We don’t really need the cash right now.”
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