MAHONING COUNTY Officials: Sales back land price

The mayor has been criticized for not having the arena site appraised.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mayor George M. McKelvey says two recent land buys vindicate the $1.5 million paid for the downtown arena site.
Friday, the city paid CSX Transportation the appraised value of $104,000 per acre for 2.65 acres. The land is next to the arena site.
The city also recently paid owners of an old gas station on Front Street the appraised value of $150,000 for 0.88 acres next to the CSX land.
McKelvey points to the unappraised $58,000 per acre spent in 2001 -- $1.5 million -- for 26 acres between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges.
Critics fault the mayor for not having the land appraised and negotiating a better price.
Some pointed to the Mahoning County auditor's $150,000 value placed on the vacant land.
Basis for price
McKelvey said the tax value was meaningless.
He said the city would have paid more than $3 million if it appraised the land instead of just negotiating the $1.5 million sale. The price was based on previous offers for the land, he said.
The recent land buys show Law Director John McNally IV and Finance Director David Bozanich were right to recommend skipping an appraisal, McKelvey said.
Bozanich said the city would have paid about $250,000 per acre -- nearly five times more -- if it took the 26 acres via eminent domain, which lets government use private property for public purposes.
That is the going rate for downtown property such as parking lots, he said. Courts use such purchases to establish prices in eminent domain, he said.
One downtown real estate expert said last year that the land's value instantly went up when the arena project was announced, because there were few available spots.
Another expert said last year that land usually makes up 10 percent to 25 percent of large downtown projects. The arena site cost is a fraction of that.
Hunter Morrison, director of Youngstown State University's Center for Urban and Regional Studies, has called the ability to even buy the riverfront land "priceless."
rgsmith@vindy.com