Saturday, September 18, 1999
Ohio Casualty moving more offices out of Hamilton
Insurer, city looking for buyers
BY JEFF McKINNEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio Casualty Corp. plans to sell $12.1 million in commercial real estate space in Hamilton, continuing its exit from Butler County's largest city and leaving some vacant downtown office space.
The Hamilton-based property and casualty insurer is seeking buyers for at least four office buildings that are part of its home office campus at Third and Dayton streets.
The decision by Ohio Casualty, one of Butler County's largest employers, to sell the property comes a year after it bought the former Mercantile Co. Stores Inc. headquarters building in Fairfield.
Since that deal, Ohio Casualty has moved 1,300 employees to the main offices of the former parent of McAlpin's. That means employment at the Hamilton site is at 550, down from 1,200 as recently as March.
Barry Porter, Ohio Casualty's chief financial officer, said the company initially planned to lease unused space at its Hamilton offices. But in the past few months, it decided against that, saying it's not interested in being a landlord.
The company said Ohio Casualty is working with Hamilton city officials to help secure a developer to buy the buildings.
“The ideal thing would be if we found a developer to buy the building and we possibly become a major tenant,” Ohio Casualty spokesman Cindy Denney said.
Ohio Casualty's plan to sell the building also raised more questions about whether the company eventually plans to move its corporate headquarters to Fairfield from Hamilton.
The company's annual shareholders meeting in April was in Fairfield, the first in the company's history outside Hamilton.
Ms. Denney said Ohio Casualty has not determined when — or if — the insurer will move its headquarters. She said investors must be asked to vote on the issue, and the matter has not been filed on the ballot for its next annual meeting.
Saying it has excess real estate with its purchase of the old Mercantile Building, Ohio Casualty plans to sell its main building in Hamilton at 136 N. Third St., two other office buildings on Third Street and a training center on Dayton Street.
The buildings, including land, had an assessed market value of about $12.1 million, based on 1999 property taxes, according to the Butler County assessor's office.
Hamilton Mayor Thomas Nye said the city has been working for months to find tenants for any buildings vacated by Ohio Casualty.
Mr. Nye said he learned just Thursday of the company's intentions to sell the four downtown office complexes.
He said the city would be willing to offer incentives to any potential buyers of the buildings. Mr. Nye said such incentives would depend on the potential developer and its intentions for the building.
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