The Geis Companies has offered $27-million for the Ameritrust property and will build a new county headquarters on part of the space. Optima Ventures also bid on the property, but was not selected. Optima claims it’s impractical to build a new county headquarters because there’s so much excess office space in downtown Cleveland. Optima’s deal includes putting the new headquarters in another building it owns. The company first offered $15-million for the Ameritrust property, but later raised that to $30-million. The county’s real estate consultant told council that Optima’s claim of a better deal is off by more than $40-million, primarily in its estimates of operating and parking costs. Councilman Jack Schron chairs the economic development and planning committee. He says the Optima bid gives council added context for making a decision on the Geis deal.

“At this point the Geis deal is what’s on our agenda and any other points of view of developers who also presented proposals but weren’t successful in getting the recommendation are merely background for out thought process on this particular recommendation.”