City wants first crack

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 Youngstown Central Area CIC plans to hire a firm to demolish buildings for a tech center Sept. 6. By DAVID SKOLNICK CITY HALL REPORTER YOUNGSTOWN — A downtown property redevelopment agency is expected next week to give the city the right of first refusal to acquire the former Masters building complex for a new municipal court. The Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp.'s property committee unanimously voted Tuesday to recommend the agreement to the full board, which will consider it at a meeting next Tuesday. City officials approached the CIC board in June with a request to have a first option on any development at the former Masters complex on West Federal Street. The vacant complex was demolished last year and is about to open as a parking lot. The agreement would give the city the right of first refusal for three years on the complex if another entity proposes a project at the facility. Under the deal, the city would have the opportunity to match the price of another offer and then have 12 months to start the municipal court project. City officials and the municipal court judges want to move the court from its cramped quarters on city hall's second floor. City officials say the Masters facility is the preferred location for the new courthouse because it would keep the court downtown and would make use of vacant space. Here's the problem The biggest holdup is money. A new courthouse at the former Masters complex would cost about $8 million, according to preliminary estimates. Once the CIC gives the city a first-right-of-refusal designation, designs for a new facility will commence. That process could take five to six months to complete. After that, the city would provide a financial plan for the court within 90 days. For the past eight years, the judges have collected $14 court fees for the facility. The fund has more than $1 million in it. The judges wanted to use the money to furnish a new building as well as purchase technology and pay for security. But the judges have recently said the money could go toward the construction phase. Before the property committee meeting, CIC officials met with representatives of 11 companies — including six from outside the Mahoning Valley — interested in demolishing five vacant buildings between the Youngstown Business Incubator and the Semple Building on West Federal Street, just east of the Home Savings and Loan. The buildings are coming down for the construction of the Youngstown Technology Center with an approximate size of 30,000 square feet. The CIC project being overseen by MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown is on a tight time frame. Interested companies have until Aug. 31 to submit proposals, MS Consultants will have a recommendation on the preferred company that day or Sept. 1, and the CIC board is expected to hire a firm Sept. 6 for the project. The work would begin shortly after that. Anticipated schedule The CIC expects demolition and remediation of the five structures to be done no later than 96 days from the time a company gets a notice to proceed with the project from the agency. The companies were also told to submit bid prices for the work to be done in 75 days. "It needs to be done, and I don't care how you get it done," John Pierko, MS Consultants' vice president of environmental services, told the contractors. "You could work 24/7. The idea is to get in, get out, quick and dirty. It's going to be rushed. We're not going to play around." The CIC plans to seek proposals to build the center in mid-September, and have the construction begin immediately after the remediation/demolition phase. skolnick@vindy.com