YOUNGSTOWN Design committee billboard proposal

A downtown wireless Internet cafe is expected to open sometime this year.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown Design Review Committee approved a proposal by Lamar Outdoor to replace a large rusty billboard structure near the Market Street Bridge with a smaller electronic billboard.
The company would spend $35,000 to $40,000 to dismantle the traditional multiple pole billboard structure, which is at least 40 years old, and replace it with a single-pole digital sign billboard, said Mike Basile, Lamar's Youngstown-area real estate manager.
"We want to clean up the old structure and bring the billboard into this century," he said.
The new billboard will have advertisements on both sides as does the current structure.
It will be installed in the next two months, Basile said. The structure is located on the southwest side of Market Street, near the bridge and Ridge Avenue.
Other decisions
Also Friday, the committee approved the design for an exterior sign for Rosetta Stone Cafe, a proposed wireless Internet restaurant and lounge on West Federal Street, near Phelps Street.
George Lenahan, the cafe owner, said he and his investors plan to spend about $250,000 to open the business at a building that has formerly housed Team Office, Woolworths and Rite Aid over the years. The business will open sometime this year, he said. He purchased the building about 18 months ago.
The cafe will be on the lower floor of the four-story, 35,000-square-foot structure with the other three floors used for storage and for a possible expansion of the business, Lenahan said.
The city is providing about $40,000 in Youngstown/Small Business Administration Initiative and facade grants to the business.
"With all the excitement of everything going on downtown, we want to be part of it," Lenahan said.
"The revitalization with other businesses downtown is encouraging."
Rosetta Stone will employ at least 15, he added.
skolnick@vindy.com