Office Space

Office space used by the Franklin County Commissioners in downtown Chambersburg was damaged by fire Thursday afternoon. Fire crews responded to a building fire in downtown Chambersburg that closed the first block of North Main Street to traffic from the square to King Street. The fire started shortly after 1 p.m. on the roof of the two-story addition to the commissioners' office at 14 N. Main St., when sparks from demolition of the former Harmon's Building ignited hay on the roof of the addition, according to a news release from the commissioners' office.

Name of business: Parkview Business Center LLC Owners: Michael Cermak Jr. and Mike Cermak Sr. Address: 201 Prospect Ave., Hagerstown Opening date: Sept. 1, 2011 Products and services: Full-service office space that includes receptionist, conference and meeting rooms, free off-street parking, phones, Internet, electricity and all utilities. Target market: Small businesses, home businesses, entrepreneurs and remote workers. How did you get into your business, and what motivated you to start it?

In keeping with the area's new Strategic Community Impact Plan, the American Red Cross of Washington County has donated office space at its Conrad Court location to Volunteer Washington County. The Red Cross heeded the call issued in the plan to work collaboratively, announcing the donation on Nov. 16, only two days after community leaders launched the SCIP, according to a news release from the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The American Red Cross is all about volunteers," Executive-Director Julie Barr-Strasburg said in the release.

The Jefferson County Commission Thursday agreed to help two agencies make needed upgrades to their office space. John Reisenweber, executive director of the Jefferson County Development Authority, asked the commissioners for $17,000 toward a $48,000 renovation of the authority's offices at 1948 Wiltshire Road in Kearneysville, W.Va. “We don't need additional space,” Reisenweber told the commissioners. “What we have needs to be upgraded.” The building houses three authority employees, including Reisenweber.

martinsburg@herald-mail.com MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A county-owned building that houses the American Red Cross likely will be offered for sale next year, meaning for the first time in 29 years the county will not be able to offer free office space to the Red Cross, the Berkeley County Commissioners said Thursday. Citing the high costs to buy or rent office space, Red Cross Executive Director Jon Jarrell said the organization might be forced to move its organization out of Berkeley County.

Berkeley ready to study office space issues By BOB PARTLOW / Staff Writer, Martinsburg MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The Berkeley County Commission appears ready early next year to begin seriously discussing plans for future office space and public parking for county buildings. Incoming Commissioner Howard Strauss said he will propose the Commission form a special committee early next year to look at all the county's building needs. Commissioner John Wright said he supports the idea.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Franklin County department heads have been asked to ponder what their space requirements will be over the next decade. "What do we need, where do we need it ... and can we afford it?" are some of the questions that need to be answered in the county facilities survey, County Commissioner G. Warren Elliott told about 40 officials on Tuesday. Director of Planning Phil Tarquino said pending projects prompted the survey. The Probation Department is moving to the former Pennsylvania State Police barracks on Walker Road this year and the county has applied for state funding for an Agricultural and Environmental Services Center on Franklin Farm Lane.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. - The work to give the old Jefferson County Jail a new life has begun. The Jefferson County Commission has hired a Martinsburg architectural firm to develop proposals on how the former jail at the corner of George and Liberty streets can be transformed for county government operations. For $30,480, Matt Grove of Grove & Dall'olio Architects told the commission Thursday his firm will do an evaluation of the building and develop a layout on how the building can be used.

Two nonprofit organizations in Washington County collaborated in February to bring a one-stop philanthropy center to downtown Hagerstown. The United Way of Washington County and the Community Foundation of Washington County are now housed in the same office space at 33 W. Franklin St., Suite 203. While wanting to remain separate organizations, both boards saw the value in combining office space to be good stewards of the public's money and create...

 BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- The new courthouse offices were fine-tuned in meetings Thursday with project architects in the Morgan County Commission trailer. Tom Potts and Jeremy Jones of Silling Associates, the architectural firm hired by the Morgan County Commission to design the new courthouse, met with individual department personnel to look at office plans. The courthouse was destroyed by fire in August 2006, and the county offices have been operating in trailers in the old parking lot. Personnel from the county assessor's office, Vonda Miller, Debbie Weaver and Assessor John Allen Swaim, worked with Potts to get the right combination of workable space in their office.

A grand opening ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday for the newly renovated Wareham Professional Center, a building that once housed a bowling alley but has been converted to luxury business suites under a city redevelopment program. The 138 W. Washington St. building, built in the early 1900s, has undergone $1 million in upgrades since Rafie Ansari purchased it five years ago, said Derek Heckman, of Re/Max Commercial, who is the rental agent representing the building. The four-story building will be used for professional suites.

The time to quit smoking is now, and help is out there To the editor: So, you want to quit smoking. I am 89 years old and in good physical condition because I am very active and I quit smoking when I was 50 years old. I manage 16 seniors playing tennis twice a week; all of them have quit smoking. Now, listen, if you want to quit, you can do it, and here is how you can do it. I went by the health department the other day and they have an electronic sign there saying if you want to quit smoking, they will help you quit.

“OK, everybody, the Maryland legislature is now in session. Hold onto your wallets, and say goodbye to some of your liberties.” - Maugansville “I just counted 24 robins in my backyard, on the ground. Could it be that springtime is just around the corner?” - Funkstown “This is concerning movies and violence. It's the people who go see the movies is the problem, it's the ratings they get. I'm 68 years old. I quit going to movies in the '60s, when they started taking God's name in vain, and when they started - it was 'Last House on the Left.' It showed women being degraded, mothers and daughters being degraded by these men, and they murdered them.

Before I get too far into the year, I need to tie up a couple of loose ends. First, in my New Year's wish list column published Dec. 30, I neglected to make the column fair and balanced. I listed too many Republican wishes and not enough from Democrats. Del. John Donoghue wished the following, which I found very profound: “Everyone needs someplace to live, somewhere to work and someone to love. For those of us with all three, let us help those who do not.” It was my mistake for overlooking his wish, and I want to correct that mistake.

It is disappointing that Washington County was not able to seal the deal on a modern new senior center that had been planned for a site on the Hagerstown Community College campus. State funding was delayed, bids disappointed the commissioners and before all was said and done, the county was looking for a backup plan. So instead, the county will settle for renovating some aging armory buildings on the city's northeast side. Last week, a divided Hagerstown City Council council voted to sell the property to the county for $625,000.

After hearing about long-term options to house Washington County Public Schools' operations during Tuesday's school board meeting, board members took steps to get more information and give people the opportunity to learn about the Commonwealth Avenue complex's condition. School system officials will develop specifications for office space for the operations now housed at the Commonwealth Avenue complex, Superintendent Clayton Wilcox said. Wilcox said, if the board sees fit, a work session will be scheduled, perhaps in February, for the board and staff to share what they think is needed for the office space.

A report that reviews long-term housing options for the administrative, instructional, operational services, testing and supervisory offices at Washington County Public Schools' Commonwealth Avenue complex reviews six options. They are: Option 1: Renovate and maintain the existing facility Estimated cost: $11,605,000, with additional $1,248,000 for temporary offices over four years. Report comments: Renovating the current facility will not completely solve the system's needs as it would not provide any additional space for future growth, many of the issues related to the inefficient layout would not be resolved, issues with the separation of “public” and “private” space would not be resolved, “parts of the building are in such poor condition that demolition and reconstruction with new structures will be the only viable option,” and temporary modular office buildings would be needed during the renovation.

An official with a Laurel, Md., planning firm Tuesday night unveiled a development concept for the former Washington County Hospital site in the east end of Hagerstown that includes townhouses, medical and institutional office space, research and development office space and warehouse distributing space. Sean Davis, a consultant with Morris & Ritchie Associates, Inc., said one of the office buildings could be a new site for the Washington County Board of Education, although Morris said after the meeting that he has not talked to school officials about the idea.

Apprehensive about the costs of building a senior citizen center at Hagerstown Community College, the Washington County Board of Commissioners is looking more closely at a former U.S. Army Reserve facility in Hagerstown. The city of Hagerstown owns the former Reserve building at the corner of East Franklin and Willard streets, Eric Deike, the city's public works manager, said earlier this year. The commissioners have focused on the HCC site for a while. After a first round of bids to build a center on the campus came in over budget, the county scaled back the project and solicited new bids.

Groundbreaking and excavation for a new medical office building on Tennessee Avenue across from City Hospital has begun. West Virginia University Hospitals-East City Hospital Foundation, owner of the property, is leasing a portion of the 10-acre parcel to Chicago-based developer Healthcare Development Partners, which is constructing a 45,000-square-foot medical office building on the property, according to a news release from WVU Hospitals-East....