YOUNGSTOWN

YOUNGSTOWN
Face of business district xxxxxchanges xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx The year saw a blend of erasing downtown's past and building its future.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Business development people say the number of construction cranes towering over a city measures the progress it's making.
Downtown's story in 2000 was of cranes that went up to take buildings down and important talk about erecting the future.
Downtown's biggest "dinosaur," the old McKelvey's and later Higbee's department store, finally met the wrecking ball, ending two decades of debate over the decrepit landmark.
Stalled bids, protests and unsuccessful court action to block the move preceded the May 25 start date. A fire in the rubble as the building's last remains came down in September added a spectacular exclamation point.
Parking: Crews spent the end of the year polishing the space between West Federal and Commerce streets into a parking lot.
Two blocks away, the aging concrete Phar-Mor parking deck at Commerce and Wick Avenue and its pedestrian walkway over Commerce Street came tumbling down, also to make way for a parking lot.
Even more space may be opening up.
Downtown's development agency, the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., got word that most of the two dozen buildings it owns are structurally unsound.
Cost projections to tear them down approach tens of millions of dollars. Fixing them up would cost even more.
Rebuilding: There was just as much talk in 2000 about rebuilding downtown, however.
Early March saw the groundbreaking for the $10 million federal courthouse at Commerce and Wick, across from where the Phar-Mor deck stood. Construction starts March 1 and it should be ready by September 2002.
Just after that, word broke of the potential for turning Youngstown into a high-techmecca: a Synchronous Optical Network ring, or SONET ring.
Adelphia Business Solutions announced it was building a high-speed Internet information network that could transform downtown. Such a network would create thousands of technology-related jobs and spur a building boom, business analysts said.
Adelphia's plans didn't turn out to be as revolutionary as hoped. Local officials sought other companies to provide the service. Offers so far have fallen short of expectations.
Arena: More traditional development tool emerged in the summer and into fall.
U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, secured $26.8 million from Congress for a downtown civic center. He envisions a $40 million multipurpose building with an attached hotel.
City council created, and area officials appointed, a 13-member development corporation board to oversee the arena.
Site selection has started.
An Arenafootball2 owner has committed to putting a team in the civic center if it's built.