Coventry PEACE Building Could Be Demolished

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — The Coventry PEACE campus may be demolished due to an ongoing dispute between the Heights Libraries, who operate the building, and the facility's tenants.

The library system's leaders said they are considering razing the building due to stalled negotiations with Coventry PEACE Inc., which represents the tenants of the facility. The tenants said they were blindsided by the library's threats.

"We’ve been negotiating in good faith while trying to survive a pandemic that has effectively shut us down for the foreseeable future," the tenants said in a statement sent to Patch.

The Heights Libraries took control of the PEACE campus in 2018. The library system then signed individual, two-year contracts with tenants, which included several directives: to form a single, tenant-run governing entity and create a financially feasible structure for taking over the building.

As part of the contracts, the tenants were to create a Reserve Account to reimburse the library for advancing capital costs for repairs and maintenance. The leases included a clause for collective repayment of the Reserve Account at the conclusion of the tenancies.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the library system said it allowed tenants to hold-over following the expiration of their lease. Tenants were given one month to review and sign a letter of intent (LOI) for a one-year lease, with an option to extend the term. The library system said the letters of intent and a $25,000 reserve contribution are due to the library by Aug. 1, 2020.

Heights Libraries Director Nancy Levin said there is currently only $12,000 in the Reserve Account.

“We have done what we were asked to do and are concerned that the tenants have not progressed further by this time,” said Levin. The tenants argue they have been negotiating in good faith and are trying to find a reasonable solution which accounts for COVID-19's effects.

Levin said the library system took on ownership of the property to retain free parking for the Coventry branch, to allow non-profit tenants to remain in Cleveland Heights and to keep the park and playground open to the public. The last feature is mandated by the property's original deed from 1917.

“The park and parking lot has always been a focus of our desire to acquire the property,” Levin said. “In the end, if the tenants don’t succeed, we may demolish the school building and enlarge the park.”

Currently, the following tenants remain in the Coventry PEACE campus: Artful, Ensemble Theater, Lake Erie Ink, Reaching Heights, Future Heights, Clevleand Heights Teachers' Union and two small spaces rented out to a therapist and an artist.

Here's the full statement the Coventry PEACE Inc. group sent to Patch:

We are shocked and blindsided by the press release the Library sent out today. We’ve been negotiating in good faith while trying to survive a pandemic that has effectively shut us down for the foreseeable future. We’ve been frustrated by the negotiations at times, but we kept it to ourselves in the interests of achieving what we thought was a shared goal and viable partnership. As recently as May 25, the Library spokesperson stated, “We continue to work toward a day when the Board of Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Campus can execute a lease with us, but we realize it may have to be postponed due to the new financial pressures on the tenants.” But today’s statement, which badly mischaracterizes the situation and ends with the possibility of just tearing down the building, is very disappointing. We will continue to do our part to keep the lines of communication open and remain hopeful we can sit down to find a reasonable solution.