Monessen council approves building sales agreement
MONESSEN — The sale of the Monessen municipal building is all but finalized, with the approval Thursday by council of the letter of intent for the purchase.
The building’s proposed new owner, Best Medical, has 60 days from Dec. 3 to close on the deal which calls for the medical firm to pay $425,000 over five years to the city, with $230,000 of that amount paid at closing.
“Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, is the start of revitalization in Monessen,” said Mayor Lou Mavrakis. “They’re going to help us rehabilitate downtown.”
Best Medical’s owner, Krishnan Suthanthiran, has said he intends to create 40 to 50 jobs at the Monessen building initially, with as many as 100 or more in the future. Mavrakis said Suthanthiran is also interested in helping to develop other buildings in downtown Monessen.
Suthanthiran emigrated from India to Canada in 1969 to further his studies in mechanical engineering, then moved to the United States in 1972. He is the founder and CEO of TeamBest Companies, Best Cure Foundation and Kitsault Energy and is an investor in medical products manufacturing, health care delivery, real estate, entertainment and energy companies.
He also owns the former Brownsville Hospital, which he bought in 2012 to convert into a cancer treatment center, as well as Best NOMOS, an oncology solutions provider in Emsworth, a Pittsburgh suburb.
The sale, as outlined in the letter of intent, calls for quarterly payments to be made to the city, at an interest rate of 2 percent. At least $95,000 must be paid toward the principal within two and a half years, according to Monessen solicitor Krish DiMascio, with the remaining balance paid within five years.
“It’s a long-term income we can count on,” DiMascio said.
The agreement also calls for the city to be offered a lease of $1,500/month for its current office space for at least six months, with a possible six-month extension. That will give the city time to find new office space, DiMascio said.
“We own several buildings in town. I spoke to the library board (Wednesday) night. They asked us to look at all of our options downtown,” DiMascio said.
DiMascio said that the city can’t just renovate an old building for its offices. There needs to be parking, the building needs to be accessible and it must have handicapped-accessible restrooms.
“We certainly don’t want to rent,” DiMascio said.
Though even at $1,500, the city estimates it will save at least $10,000 a month over its current expenses to maintain the building.
“We should be in really great shape next year. We won’t have the costs of operating this building,” DiMascio said.