Insurance agent to renovate house into office on Ohio 82 in North Royalton

NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio – A local insurance agent is renovating a vacant house on Ohio 82 near West 130th Street into her new office.

Tirah Thompson, a State Farm agent, bought the house in November for $100,000, according to the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office. The Cape Cod house was built in 1945.

The North Royalton Planning Commission approved the renovation project in March. The renovation work has begun.

Thompson hopes to move her office, now in a York Road multitenant building in North Royalton, into the adapted home in August, according to Daryl Mapson, an architect working on the project.

The house is on a half-acre lot just east of a retail plaza – containing Amici Italian Restaurant, Bar and Party Center – at the northeast corner of 82 and West 130th.

At a March 9 meeting, Mapson told the planning commission that the renovation would cost about $100,000. The project will include construction of a new front porch, an entrance feature over the front door and a ramp for the physically disabled. An existing garage will be painted and new garage doors installed.

When finished, the building will contain four offices, a restroom, kitchenette and waiting area. Also, the project will involve paving the parking lot and improving the landscaping, Mapson said.

According to Thompson’s application to the commission, new landscaping will include a crabapple tree or trees, Alberta spruce and arborvitae shrubs, Hameln fountain grass, periwinkles and day lilies.

City Engineer Justin Haselton said the building renovation will increase the hard surface on the site by about .15 acres. As a result, Thompson and Mapson were required to submit a stormwater management plan.

Mapson said he and Thompson would try to decrease the amount of hard surface on the site, as Haselton suggested.