Central Hall will be vacated by county and put on market

County Historian to move to space next to Subway in Albion

Photos by Tom Rivers: The Central Hall building at 34 East Park St. will soon be vacated and put up for sale by Orleans County. The County Historian will move to a space next to the Subway.

ALBION – The County Legislature agreed today to a lease space in a plaza on South Main Street for the county historian, a move that will be made as soon as the space is ready.

The historian works out of the top floor of Central Hall at 34 East Park St. That building will become vacate once the historian and Department of History are moved to the plaza. County officials said the change is a cost-cutting move that could save $90,000 to $110,000 a year in maintenance costs once the building is sold.

The change also will make the historian’s office more accessible to the public, county officials said. The space is on the first floor and people won’t need to climb stairs to access the building.

The county has owned Central Hall the past 45 years. It was used by the treasurer until September 2024 and used to be the offices for the Probation Department.

The County Historian and the Department of History’s artifacts will move to 2,000 square feet of space on the side of a plaza next to Subway. Most of this space is on the north side of the building. The historian and any visitors to the office can use a parking lot for the county treasurer.

Central Hall, a solid red-brick building, was a school from 1882 to 1934, and then was used as the post for the American Legion until the site was bought by the county in 1980.

The historian will move to 2,000 square feet of space on the north side of the plaza, facing the parking lot of the treasurer’s office. There will be a part of the historian’s office facing the main parking lot.

The county won’t have to pay to lease the building except for the cost of utilities and to renovate the site. The county also will plow the parking lot in the winter. The county is already plowing out the treasurer’s office and some of the spots in the lot that are used for the treasurer’s office.

The Buildings and Grounds staff for the county will be putting in an ADA-compliant bathroom and making other renovations to the site.

The lease agreement was approved by the Legislature in a 6-1 vote. Legislator Fred Miller cast the lone no vote. He thanked Lynne Johnson, the Legislature chairwoman, for her work on the lease but he didn’t agree with the relocation of the historian to the plaza.

“I don’t feel this is what the county should be doing,” Miller said during the Legislature meeting.

The Legislature approved the lease with Nomax Albion, LLC, which is owned by Noah Michaels. He reached out to the county about leasing the space in exchange for plowing the parking lot for the plaza.

The county doesn’t have a solid move-in date for the historian. It depends on when the space can be made ready by the Buildings and Grounds staff.