NORTH SIDE Agency shifts focus to building new homes

The address at 25 Indiana Ave. could seem an odd choice for renovation.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The North Side Citizens' Coalition unveiled its first renovated historic house a year ago and planned to have 16 more done by now.
Friday, the agency celebrated its second renovation.
What the coalition learned the past year -- besides patience -- is realistic expectations, said Talut Rasul, coalition executive director.
The lack of government money available for subsidies and the expensive nature of renovations are tempering future expectations, Rasul said. The agency now plans to rehabilitate about two homes a year, he said.
Instead, plans to build eight to 10 new homes a year on vacant North Side lots will be the main catalyst for transforming North Side neighborhoods, Rasul said.
"If we can do that, we can accomplish revitalization," he said.
The agency plans to start building homes on Baldwin Street, around the block from the renovation revealed Friday at 25 Indiana Ave.
Renovated house
The coalition spent $175,000 renovating the historic house, selling it for $85,000, Rasul said. The rest was subsidized.
The home's appraised value is $103,000.
The 2.5-story, six-bedroom brick home had all the vintage 1917 oak baseboards, window and door trim stripped and restored, plus the hardwood floors throughout. The house also has all new plumbing, electrical wiring and heating, kitchen cabinets and built-in appliances.
The coalition picks the homes it renovates or land where it builds based on location, not just expense, Rasul said.
Such targeted renovations are important to the housing mix in the Youngstown 2010 plan for the future, said Jay Williams, director of the city Community Development Agency. More agencies like the coalition -- and more state or federal government funding -- need to spring up to quicken the pace of renovations, he said.
Otherwise, the address at 25 Indiana could seem an odd choice for renovation.
The neighborhood
Across the street sits an old, eight-bedroom that last was apartments. The upper windows are smashed and the lower openings are boarded. A vacant lot with a rusty fence is next door.
Rasul explained that 25 Indiana will be the centerpiece of a remade neighborhood.
The eyesore across the street is to be demolished. The coalition will work to lure a service business to the vacant lot, which fronts on Wick Avenue.
The coalition owns, maintains and rents out one home next to 25 Indiana. The agency is giving the other neighbor a grant for paint to improve that home. And finally, the new homes are to be built around the block.
Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, called the decision to invest in the neighborhood "foresight."
The buyer, Elizabeth Robinson, 37, a pharmacy technician at St. Elizabeth Health Center, said the roomy home's character attracted her and her 12-year-old daughter from the West Side. She's not even sure what she'll do with all the space.
Robinson believes in the coalition and that the neighborhood will rebound around her.
"I have the faith that the area will be restored," she said.
rgsmith@vindy.com