“It’s not about an office building. It really is about making a difference in the community,” Jeff Thurman, president and chief executive officer of Community First, said.
“As the second-largest private employer in Hamilton, we really do have an obligation to strengthen this community, not just the services that we do, but a true investment in making this community a stronger place,” Thurman said. “We hope this is the leap that starts many others to leap.”
Over the next year, the 35,000-square-foot vacant, historical Third Street building will be upgraded to modern office space with state-of-the art technology. It will house more than 45 shared services staff such as accounting, technology and marketing in once place, with extra room to grow. Features will also include a 60-seat meeting and conference room.
Community First is the parent holding company of these four nonprofits: Colonial, Community Behavioral Health Inc., Community First Pharmacy and Partners in Prime. Altogether, the divisions and parent company, which provides back-office services, employ about 700 people.
Services provided by Community First and its subdivisions affect approximately 46,000 people a year in Butler, Hamilton, Montgomery and Warren counties. It’s the single largest provider of Meals on Wheels in Butler County, delivering about 700 home meals a day.
Community First, which reorganized in 2010, has outgrown its Eaton Avenue office building. The former Ringel’s building is double the size and will give the growing provider of home health care, behavioral health services and discount pharmacy services a more central location to its various operations throughout Butler County, Thurman said. A cafe and wellness center to be built at the new headquarters should also help recruit new employees to work at the organization.
Other benefits of the investment include a prominent downtown presence that could lift Community First Solutions’ name recognition; the organization is sometimes better known by the names of its subdivisions, even though the whole operation has grown to be Hamilton’s fourth largest employer overall, public and private.
“The building is going to make our employees that much more efficient. If our employees are efficient, we’re going to give better service across the various organizations we have,” Thurman said.
The cost of renovations will be funded by unrestricted investments that don’t affect daily operations, he said. No restricted donor dollars will be spent. Nor will any fees for services be raised to pay for the project.
Ringel Realty LLC donated the building, 223 S. Third St., to Community First in November 2012, according to property records.
Meanwhile, Community First is nearing a deal to sell the current 520 Eaton Avenue headquarters, Thurman said. After the sale closes, and during construction, employees will work temporarily in space at Vora Technology Park in Hamilton.
To date, the building has been gutted to ready for construction. Plans are to award bids for construction work next week, with construction starting soon after that, he said.
For Hamilton, winning a downtown corporate headquarters is news that might catch the attention of other businesses looking to expand, Jody Gunderson, the city’s economic development director, said.
“It marks the first time in quite a long time that we’ve had a headquarters locating in our downtown,” Gunderson said.
“If they believe that this is the best for their company and their employees, then from our perspective, from the city’s perspective, we kind of think that we’re turning the corner on some of the initiatives that we started a number of years ago,” Gunderson said.
No property tax abatements were approved for Community First’s building improvements. However, the city appropriated in 2013 up to $100,000 to Community Improvement Corp., a nonprofit development agency, to acquire parking lots downtown.
Parking was key to Community First’s move, city and nonprofit officials said. The Community Improvement Corp. acquired 207 South Third St. and demolished the building there, helping make room for 76 parking spaces, according to the city.
Additionally, city government is making sidewalk and curb repairs along Third Street, will install new light fixtures and bury overhead utility lines underground, Gunderson and City Manager Joshua Smith said.
The Consortium for Ongoing Reinvestment Efforts (CORE) Fund, a private nonprofit formed to invest in downtown-area redevelopment, purchased on July 15 property related to the former Joffe Furniture building, at the same street corner as Community First’s future headquarters. In a single $300,000 transaction, the following parcels were bought and are now owned by CORE Fund: 216 S. Third St.; 220 S. Third St.; 316 Ludlow St.; 320 Ludlow St.; and 324 Ludlow St.
Plans for the property “are to get it in the hands of someone that wants to redevelop it and make it a more productive use of a building,” Smith said.
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