Heights Libraries Buying Coventry PEACE Campus

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — The Heights Libraries will purchase the Coventry PEACE campus building from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District. The purchase was authorized by the library system's Board of Trustees on Monday night.

The title for the property will transfer to the library system on March 31. The library will pay $1 for the six-acre property, which includes the former Coventry Elementary School, a parking lot, green space and parking lot.

The property's original deed intended for it to be used as a public, educational space. That incentivized the library system's purchase of the site.

“The PEACE Park is a popular and much-loved public space that attracts community members from all walks of life, and complements the existing Coventry commercial district,” said Heights Library Director Nancy Levin. “We look forward to working with the Coventry PEACE Campus Initiative to protect and preserve this community asset.”

The school district announced in May 2017 that it wanted to sell the property. The school building was in need of more than $1 million in repairs, including a new roof, the district said at the time. The city of Cleveland Heights also stepped in to help the district sell the property.

"It's obvious that the Coventry site and the building are in need of significant repairs in order for it to continue operating," said CH-UH Superintendent Talisa Dixon in a statement at the time. "We do not want to invest more money into a site that does not directly impact our students."

Heights Libraries said it intends to pay for the repairs using rent money from tenants and a reserve that tenants will be required to maintain as part of a rental agreement.

A myriad of local civic groups call the Coventry PEACE building home, including Ensemble Theater, Future Heights, Reaching Heights, Artful, Family Connections, and Lake Erie Ink. Tenants were moved to a month-to-month lease structure starting in July 2017.

The library system has said it intends to keep all of the current tenants in the building.

“Our goal is for the tenants to be independent,” says library system Director Nancy Levin. “We don’t want to be landlords – we will be acting as a kind of incubator, supporting the tenants until they can take over ownership and management of the property themselves.”

The purchase of the property will need to be confirmed by the CHUH Board of Education at its Feb. 20 meeting. It's no sure thing that the BoE will approve the sale.

"Monday’s decision from the Library Board is an encouraging sign that we could have a resolution for the Coventry property in the near future. However, we want to ensure that we make a decision that is in the best interest of the community," said Board of Education Vice President Jodi Sourini in an email to Patch.

"We will take all input into consideration, including the comments we heard last night at the Library meeting, and from any emails or phone calls we receive in the meantime. We are continuing to work with the library to see this process through. We want to move forward in the best interest of the community," she added.

If the purchase is approved, the Heights Libraries said it intends to do due diligence, including conducting a title search, a land survey, and an environmental study.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Libraries already have a property near the Coventry PEACE campus, a two-acre site at the corner of Coventry Road and Euclid Boulevard.

Photo from Google Earth