CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) – “These are an installation by a local artist, Dana Depew,” explained Shannon Morris of ARTFUL Cleveland as she walked through the Coventry PEACE Campus building. “And they’re ready to go to a new location, because now we have to be out by January 31.”

The former Coventry Primary School was converted into a studio complex for artists, the Coventry PEACE Campus.

“We renovated this lobby to have rotating art exhibits,” Morris said. “Many people come in who have never been inside an art gallery.”

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Board of Directors purchased the building from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District in 2018 and the library estimates they have since spent nearly half a million dollars on maintenance not covered by tenants. And the building needs renovation.

“By your estimate, two point eight million dollars,” Deborah Herrmann, the library’s chief financial officer, told the Cleveland Heights City Council at an Oct. 8 Special Committee of the Whole meeting.

“The library has invested quite a bit of taxpayer money and funds into this building that is not open to the public and is managed by private organizations,” Herrmann said.

But the Cleveland Heights City Council supports artists.

“I urge all of my fellow council members to join me in supporting the PEACE campus efforts,” Councilman Craig Cobb said at the Oct. 7 council meeting.

“Everyone knows this is part of the community and it enriches the community,” Morris said. “Having an empty building here is not good for anyone.”

“If they said ‘let’s do this,’ it would make more sense,” Morris continued. “But right now it doesn’t make any sense, so it’s very hard for me to accept it.”

Board President Nancy Levin said the board wants to take some time to decide what to do with the building. If they reuse it, they would need to vacate it for renovations. He also says they might as well raze it.

“We have thirty-four artists who need new homes for the foreseeable future,” Morris said. “My heart breaks. “It really is.”

Nine of the twelve PEACE campus tenants must leave by January 31, while the other three will have their leases shortened.

Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.