DOWNTOWN YOUNGSTOWN Apartments for Phar-Mor building?

A purchase deal is contingent on the buyers examining the building's mechanical systems.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Developers have a conditional agreement to buy the six-story Phar-Mor Centre and intend to add residential units to the businesses inside.
CRE Holding Corp., which is owned by Rokki Rogan and Michael Camacci, also intends to build a parking deck behind the building, at Wick Avenue and Commerce Street, to replace one that was torn down there a few years ago.
The deal is conditional, however, on a closer look at the mechanical systems within the Phar-Mor Centre, which was built as a retail department store around 1910, said Camacci, who owns Landmark Commercial Real Estate Services in Austintown along with Rogan.
The building has problems which need repaired, but the deal will go through unless more serious problems are found, Camacci said.
"It looks fairly promising," he said.
CRE has notified city Councilman Artis Gillam, D-1st, about some of the project details. The councilman said he would support doing whatever the city can to make the project succeed, including tax abatements.
The building housed Strouss-Hirshberg, then Strouss' department store for years, then was remodeled to be the headquarters of Phar-Mor, a discount drugstore chain that closed its stores in July. Only about 20 of its employees remain, wrapping up the company's final affairs.
In 1990, Phar-Mor had 1,500 employees in the building and the nearby Erie Terminal building. Only about 200 were left when Phar-Mor ended operations this summer.
Camacci said he and Rogan are still reviewing what sort of residential units to put in the building. Under consideration are both high-end and low-end units, which could be apartments or condominiums.
Those units would be blended with offices and retail stores, he said.
Parking deck
Camacci said he would hope to have a parking deck, which would be connected to the building's third floor, as was the Strouss' deck, within a few years.
Parking is the biggest obstacle to finding tenants for other downtown buildings, he said.
The old Strouss deck has been replaced by a parking lot managed by the city.
Through a company called 20 West, Camacci and Rogan own the National City Bank Building next to the Phar-Mor Centre. The bank building is 83 percent occupied.
Camacci said they have invested in upgrading that building and now are looking for a new project.
"We've demonstrated a commitment to this city's downtown, and we've not had this interest diminished at all," he said.
Rogan also owns a building on Walnut Street.
The Phar-Mor Centre is owned by Strouss Building Associates, which is owned by Phar-Mor and a subsidiary of Phar-Mor. The final business affairs of the former drugstore operator are being overseen by Judge William Bodoh of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Youngstown.
Phar-Mor offices took up most of the second floor and all of the third floor of the building recently.
OSI Strategic Receivables, a debt collection company, operates a call center on the fourth floor. The fifth floor is vacant, and the sixth floor is occupied by Hanahan-Strollo & amp; Associates architects and the Nadler Nadler & amp; Burdman law firm.