YOUNGSTOWN Wick-Pollock Inn feud to be decided by court

The hotel has sat vacant for 31/2 years.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A spat over the future of the Wick-Pollock Inn on the Youngstown State University campus is headed to the Ohio Court of Claims in Columbus.
YSU, which owns the 109-year-old inn on Wick Avenue, wants to evict First National Bank of Pennsylvania from the property.
The bank, on the other hand, says YSU has stood in the way of plans to reopen the facility for student housing and is asking for $2.5 million in damages.
Meanwhile, the historic mansion built by the Pollock family in the late 19th century and restored to an 80-room inn in the 1980s sits empty along one of YSU's busiest thoroughfares.
"It's really sad to see it just sitting there, deteriorating like that," Michael Skuback of Boardman, 32, a YSU student, said Tuesday as he walked by the vacant mansion, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"They really need to do something about that."
The court case is the latest in a long line of disputes since the inn was closed in November 1998.
History: The mansion was given to YSU about 40 years ago and housed classrooms and offices until 1986, when a four-member partnership called Pollock Inn Restoration Associates signed a 25-year lease with YSU.
The partnership, with a loan from FNB of Pennsylvania, restored and expanded the building and opened the inn in 1988.
Ten years later, however, the partnership closed the facility, citing declining business. It was the city's only remaining full-service hotel.
Sandy Denman, YSU's general counsel, said the bank foreclosed on the property and assumed the role of the tenant. Since then, the bank has failed to maintain the building and to pay rent and electricity, Denman said.
She said YSU and the bank have had several discussions on how to resolve the situation. "But that didn't work out," she said.
So, in February, the university filed a notice in Youngstown Municipal Court to evict the bank from the property.
On Tuesday, at the request of the bank, the case was moved to the Ohio Court of Claims, which handles lawsuits against state agencies such as YSU.
What's contended: In a counterclaim, the bank says the university has interfered with its attempts to reopen the inn for student housing under an agreement struck with former YSU President Leslie Cochran, who left the university in June 2000.
YSU "acted unreasonably and without justification in failing to proceed with the project" for student housing, the bank says in court documents.
The bank asks for $2.5 million in damages.
Atty. Stuart Strasfeld, representing the bank, said he does not publicly discuss pending cases. John Stolar Jr., the bank's senior vice president, could not be reached to comment.
Denman said YSU would like the property re-opened as an inn.
John Habat, YSU President David Sweet's special assistant, said the property is "the front door to Youngstown."
"In a way, it's symbolic of the rebirth potential of this community," he said.