We recently found ourselves to be at the center of controversy. It was not necessary nor was it instigated by us. Nonetheless, there we were. Right smack-dab in the middle of a news story which by it’s delivery, was meant to stir up the justice-seekers of the community. Although we knew the truth, we also knew there is always the possibility a good situation can turn ugly just because public opinion calls it so.
We purchased an old historic property. It was built in the early 1920’s and is situated on a beautiful piece of property by a garden park and a river. The property was owned by the Five Rivers MetroParks. My husband has been employed by Five Rivers for nearly 20 years. This property had been their corporate headquarters for 50 years and was on the market for nearly 2 1/2 years. It was our understanding there were a lot of lookers but no offers. There was simply too much work to be done to either restore it OR to renovate and upgrade it. It is just a little too far out of the downtown area and not far enough to be in the neighboring towns. But, we didn’t care about all that. We have a vision for it and we knew what we could afford, and it wasn’t even half of the asking price.
The issue was two-fold: the ridiculously low price we paid for it AND that it sold to an employee for that low price. Although everything was clean, clear, legal, and totally transparent and above reproach, it didn’t matter to those who wanted to stir up controversy. So, they did. The claim eluded to favoritism and foul play. The investigation included scouring through all the public documents about the property, the sale, our backgrounds, and my husbands personnel record of nearly 20 years. It was not pleasant. Every day there were updates about the investigation. There was the phone interview and my awareness that anything can be taken out of context and misconstrued for sensationalism. All the while, I know the purchase followed the Ohio Revised Code for government owned real estate sales. And when the MetroPark was concerned they had missed something relatively small, they started the whole process over again by posting the property for sale in the Public Notice Section as well as holding another Open House for the public. I was in a bit of a twit about it all. I knew our offer was low. Anyone in the whole, wide, world could come in with a higher offer and walk away with it. I prayed, as I always do, that IF this is the right purchase for us, that it be made easy and effortless. And we got it. We closed months later than expected and lost a lot of good weather time to work on the exterior. A few days after the closing, we received notification from the City indicating the exterior did not meet standards and needed immediate attention, or else! That was our Welcome to the City!
When the news investigation began in January, we had barely started working on the building. And we were all too aware of the watchful eyes to our comings and goings. And then the news…. First it was on the local news without our names but clearly indicating this was an inappropriate sale. Then the next day came the newspaper article with personal information being published, which was totally unrelated to the sale. Then came my personal interview and tour of the property, which I offered up. Why? Because, it was my prayer that the Angels shine the light on the harmony and transparency of this transaction and to allow this to be a positive publicity event for the Leland Center. You see, our vision for the Leland extends far beyond us. It is our hope to provide the community with holistic services, access to workshops and events which are not currently available in the area, AND we have a vision to have a non-profit arm of the business which will provide complimentary therapies to Veterans and our active military especially those suffering with PTSD. The final news piece has become exactly what we prayed for. It was done well, with integrity and exemplifies our vision of the Leland House as well as became positive publicity for the Leland. There will be more written about this journey. We are eager to share!