Penn Hills Rotary makes proposal to occupy William McKinley Community Center rent-free

The Penn Hills Rotary wants to be the new stewards of the municipal-owned William McKinley Community Center.

The nonprofit, in a proposal presented to Penn Hills Council, said it would occupy the space rent-free in exchange for taking over the utilities, performing general maintenance in and around the 5.5 acre-property and coordinating rentals and leases with other organizations that would like to use office and meeting space.

The proposal came months after a Request for Proposals period on the facility passed in November. Council approved the issuance of an RFP in September in a 3-2 vote. Mayor Pauline Calabrese and Councilman Frank Pecora dissented.

At the time, Calabrese and Pecora said the public needed more time to weigh in on the action.

When the municipality received zero proposals, the Nov. 6 deadline was extended to the end of the year. Municipal Manager Scott Andrejchak said the municipality received one proposal from an organization named “Focus” that was not considered by council because “it did not pique a lot of interest.”

Even then, no one, including William McKinley Citizens Center — the facility’s current tenant — or the Penn Hills Rotary, submitted a proposal.

“It wasn’t on our radar at that point,” said Jared Delio, president of the Penn Hills Rotary. “One member brought it to our attention that the building is still without a permanent overseer. As an organization, we don’t have a home meeting space. So looking into this and pursuing it would allow us to have a tangible presence and office space and offer it to other civic-minded groups.”

It is unclear what the Rotary’s presence in the facility would mean to the nonprofit – “William McKinley Citizens Center” – that has been the facility’s tenant since 1989. However, Delio said the Rotary would keep all current tenants in the building.

Delio said the Rotary has not met with William McKinley Citizens Center’s board of directors to discuss a possible transition. Nancy Lobaugh, president of the William McKinley Citizens Center nonprofit, was not immediately available to comment.

The Rotary would also change the name of the facility to the Penn Hills Rotary McKinley Community Center and use it as its headquarters for meetings. Its proposal also said the Rotary would launch a website that makes renting spaces in the building easier to manage.

Initially, the RFP issued by the municipality was done as an effort to find a tenant that would rent out the facility or buy the property outright if the entity could provide adequate programming to the municipality.

Council approved a two-year lease agreement for the Penn Hills Multi-Purpose Center at 2025 Lincoln Road after issuing a similar RFP in February 2020. That lease agreement involved a $2,500 monthly rent to a day care organization.

This proposal, if approved, would mean the Rotary would occupy the space rent-free — which would seem to contradict the municipality’s initial intent with issuing an RFP.

“It started out as, you know, this building is costly for the municipality. And it is, I mean, how long can we actually maintain this? Are the funds we spend annually enough to maintain the building?” said Chris Blackwell, the municipality’s planning director.

Over the next five years, the property is to receive $130,000 in Community Development Block Grant allocations, according to the municipality’s five-year capital improvement program. The municipality will also allocate a $10,000 yearly subsidy to the facility over the next five years for a total of $50,000.

“So it started as something looking at fiscal responsibility to ‘who else could run it?’ I don’t know if that was the original intent,” he said.

Tyler Tomasino, the Penn Hills Rotary’s project manager, said the rotary’s offer was based on what was being asked in the RFP, which, he pointed out, did not specify a rent amount.

“The current tenant does not pay rent,” Tomasino said. “What we’re offering is based on the initial RFP. It’s an alternative solution that we think provides a future for that building.”

Delio said the Rotary would want William McKinley Citizens Center to continue to occupy the space under its current contract.

“We would just like to utilize (the building) to a greater extent … we can do a nice job in making sure that space is used by organizations looking to better the community,” Delio said.

Calabrese declined to say whether she thought the Rotary’s written proposal was a good idea. However, she said “some people perceive this as a hostile takeover.”

“So I want to give them an opportunity to give a full-blown presentation, give McKinley the opportunity to respond and give a presentation. It’s just not right for a vote until we hear from all sides and until we get public input,” she said.

The Rotary was limited to a three-minute time allotment to talk about its proposal during council’s April 19 meeting. However, members agreed to give a longer presentation of the proposal on May 10, during council’s agenda-setting meeting.