Wednesday, July 28, 2004
A New Jersey company offered to buy the Erie Terminal Building.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Years in the making, plans for a new theater next to Edward W. Powers Auditorium are coming to fruition.
Downtown's redevelopment agency, the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., heard a presentation Tuesday on the estimated $4 million expansion.
Bids will be let within a couple weeks. Contracts are to be awarded about six weeks after the bids arrive. Construction is to start soon after.
The 600-seat hall at West Federal and Chestnut streets will be the first theater built downtown since the 1930s, said Patricia Syak, executive director of Youngstown Symphony Society, which is based at Powers.
'True concert hall'
The addition is believed to be the only one in the area built expressly for acoustic music, a true concert hall, she said. Other area theaters are converted movie houses, like Powers, or multipurpose buildings, she said.
The new theater will include a loading dock on Commerce Street linking to the Powers stage to accommodate larger productions there, Syak said.
CIC and the symphony society will have to legally work out an issue concerning 33 feet of space needed for the theater. CIC owns the property, where a parking lot now sits.
The CIC board also handled several other issues:
UTalked about an offer from a New Jersey company to buy the Erie Terminal Building on Commerce Street. CIC is half-owner of the building with Strouss Building Associates.
A company called Southgate Properties of Fort Lee, N.J., offered $1.15 million for the building.
Board members sent the offer to the property committee for discussion. Board members were concerned about lack of details about the interested buyer and the company's plans for the building. A presentation was made by Joey Stefko of Metro Group Inc. Realtor, which is listing the building for sale.
Any sale would be complicated. SBA owes about $900,000 to the state and $650,000 to the city, CIC officials said. There also is a $550,000 dispute over what CIC says SBA owes to the downtown agency over the building.
USold the first Federal Building for $22,000 to a SKA Ltd., which is planning a martini and cigar bar for the former First Federal Bank building on West Federal.
The property committee will talk about the required 100-percent performance bond that is part of the agency's building purchase program. Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, questioned the bonds. The bonds are to assure the CIC has funds to complete a project should a developer fail to.
UAuthorized the executive committee to sign an agreement with the Youngstown Business Incubator seeking funding from the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund.
The agencies are seeking $450,000 to $500,000 to remediate and demolish several blighted buildings on West Federal Street next to the incubator. The incubator is interested in expanding if the sites are leveled.
UAuthorized the executive committee to sign an agreement with the city for short- and long-term financing for the new 7th District Court of Appeals planned for West Federal Street. Contracts are expected to be awarded in September or October, with demolition starting in the winter.
rgsmith@vindy.com