County to Acquire Former Dollar General Store
The original story can be found here in the Athens Messenger
By Steve Robb Messenger Staff Journalist
An agreement to acquire the former Dollar General building in Glouster was approved Tuesday by the Athens County Commissioners.
The county will pay $1 for the vacant building, but what it does with the structure remains to be seen.
“We don’t have a real plan yet,” said Commission President Lenny Eliason, although moving the OhioMeansJobs Center (formerly The Work Station) from The Plains to the Glouster building is being discussed. Eliason said the county is paying $60,000 per year in rent for the space in The Plains.
The building in Glouster is owned by JSMN Ohio Properties LLC of New Jersey, which has already signed the agreement to sell the building for $1.
County Treasurer Ric Wasserman said he believes the company wants to get out from under the future tax liability for the property, although the company will pay real estate taxes owed for tax year 2018.
The purchase agreement allows JSMN Ohio Properties LLC to pay its 2018 taxes in $2,000 installments, for a total of $10,000. The last payment is due no later than April 30, after which the county can close on acquisition of the building.
When Wasserman became county treasurer last June there was a tax delinquency on the building of about $23,000. The owner was put on a payment plan, and Wasserman said the last payment was made in December.
Dollar General opened a new store in Glouster in 2015, and the prior store building has been vacant since then.
