LIMA — Allen County Department Job & Family Services will be closed Friday, Dec. 20 as staff relocate from their Dixie Highway offices to 951 Commerce Parkway, in the former Lima Memorial Heart & Vascular Institute building just off Interstate 75.
The jobs center will reopen the following Monday, Dec. 23.
Allen County Job & Family Services has been planning its move since 2018.
The department will lease the Commerce Parkway office space from Lima Memorial for $7.6 million over 25 years — or about $304,000 per year — after which ACJFS will have the option to purchase the building for $1. By comparison, ACJFS Executive Director Joe Patton said the department would have spent about $360,000 per year to lease its current Dixie Highway offices.
Patton estimates Allen County Job & Family Services will spend about $60,000 total renovating the interior of the old Heart & Vascular Institute, which needed to be converted into office space, as well as another $1.1 million building a new conference center that will be used to host job fairs and training seminars.
Patton said all rent and renovations costs are being paid with state and federal grant dollars. He expects construction of the new conference center will continue into January 2020.
“That will be a huge asset for the community and our employers locally to be able to (host) recruiting and hiring events,” Patton said.
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