URBAN DEVELOPMENT Officials mull over loan for renovations More housing seen as vital for improving downtown

The mayor also wants joint development plans with surrounding areas.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city is considering a plan to provide up to a $4 million no-interest loan to the owners of the Wick Building to convert the downtown structure into a high-end apartment/condominium complex.
City council will consider an ordinance Wednesday authorizing the board of control to negotiate terms of a loan as high as $4 million with Management Parking LLC and Youngstown Wick Building Real Estate Partners LLC, which own the Wick Building.
Lou Frangos, owner of USA Parking of Cleveland, which operates a number of parking lots and decks in the city, is the primary owner of Management Parking and Youngstown Wick Building Real Estate, said city Finance Director David Bozanich.
The city sold the 11-story Wick Building on West Federal Street to the companies for $125,000 in March 2005. At the time, the 60,000-square-foot building was about three-quarters occupied. The companies had all of the building's tenants leave to implement their housing plan.
The building's biggest problem was that one of its passenger elevators needed to be replaced at a cost of about $250,000, an amount too expensive for the city. The Burdman family donated the building to the city in 1994.
Loan requirements
To obtain this type of loan from the city, a company needs an irrevocable letter of credit from a bank. The city is reimbursed the full amount of the loan by the company, or by the bank that issued the letter if the company defaults.
These loans from the city require full payment within 18 months, but the city can request immediate repayment at any time. The loans are interest-free, but recipients have to pay an amount equal to about 2 percent interest for certain closing costs and processing fees.
The money for these loans comes from 50 to 60 nontax city revenue sources, including court fines, parking meter fees, investment income, park and recreation fees and rent from buildings owned by the city.
City council also will consider legislation to permit the board of control -- consisting of the mayor, law director and finance director -- to enter into another agreement with Management Parking LLC.
The agreement calls for the city to lease five of its lots behind the Realty Building at East Federal Street and Wick Avenue to Management Parking, which owns the building.
As with Wick, the plan for the 13-story Realty Building is to convert it into an apartment/condominium complex, except for its first floor.
The building's first floor houses the Bean Counter coffee house and a new downtown WYTV television studio.
Improvements to Realty and Wick should start shortly and take up to a year to complete.
Mayor Jay Williams said housing is a key component that is missing as part of the continued revitalization of the city's downtown.
"This is a significant step forward for downtown," he said.
Williams envisions a general store and other businesses opening downtown to serve those living in the two buildings.
Also, council will consider allowing the board of control to negotiate a contract for a company to identify potential joint economic development districts in the communities surrounding the city.
The board could spend up to $25,000 to hire the company. The study would take six to nine months.
Williams said no one should look at the study as an attempt by Youngstown to annex other surrounding communities into the city. The plan is to determine projects that would mutually benefit Youngstown and other communities, he said.
"We're not after annexation, we're after regional cooperation," Williams said. "I've talked to elected officials in every community surrounding the city, and they think regionalization is a good idea. Now we need to move ahead with it."
Under a JEDD agreement, the city would provide utilities to a business in a surrounding community in exchange for charging city income tax to that company's employees. The township would collect property tax from the business in a JEDD.