PHAR-MOR Center is out as site for JFS

The county made an offer to buy the building, but it was turned down as too low.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Phar-Mor Centre downtown apparently is no longer a factor in Mahoning County's plans to relocate its Department of Jobs and Family Services.
Commissioner Vicki Allen Sherlock said Bank One, which holds debt in excess of $2 million on the West Federal Street building, has stopped negotiating with the city, which was trying to broker a deal for the county to buy the six-story structure.
"They shut us down," Sherlock said Tuesday.
JFS is made up of the human services department and the child support enforcement agency, with a total of about 400 employees. It is in the McGuffey Plaza on North Garland Avenue, on Youngstown's East Side.
Commissioners have expressed a desire to move the department out of the plaza to a site in or near downtown. The Phar-Mor Centre was high on their list of potential sites.
Sherlock said the county, through the city, made an offer in May to buy the bank's outstanding loans on the building, but it was rejected.
In a fax to city finance director David Bozanich, a Bank One spokesman said the offer was not acceptable because it was contingent on legislative approval and the purchase price was too low.
The fax gave the city until June 27 to submit a revised bid, but wasn't sent to the city until June 28.
Another offer
Sherlock said that when Bozanich contacted the bank to say the county was prepared to come back with a substantially higher offer, the bank had already accepted a bid from another unidentified potential buyer.
"They didn't even want to hear our offer," Sherlock said. "We were totally rebuffed. That's what happened, and we are stuck with the decision by Bank One."
Sherlock declined to say how much the county had offered or how much its second offer would have been.
Bank One officials in Columbus could not be reached to comment. They have declined in the past to discuss the bank's handling of the Phar-Mor Centre, citing confidentiality reasons.
Sherlock said commissioners now will have to look at alternative sites for relocating JFS, including Oakhill Renaissance Place, formerly Forum Health Southside Medical Center.
Operators of Oakhill have submitted an informal proposal for the county to lease space there for 15 years.