Taft tech center moving along

The project is more than 50 percent complete.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — The roof is finished and interior work to the Taft Technology Center is “moving along very swiftly.”

That’s what the Youngstown Central Area Community Corp.’s board of directors heard Tuesday from David Kosec, the downtown property agency’s development project manager.

The high-tech facility is on target to be done by its March 15, 2008, scheduled completion date, he said.

The building’s interior partitions, dry wall, and heating and cooling systems are nearly done, Kosec said.

When finished, the center, named for ex-Gov. Bob Taft, will provide 30,000 square feet of space for high-tech companies. Turning Technologies, recently named the nation’s fastest-growing software company by Inc. magazine, will occupy about half of that space.

That company is located in the Youngstown Business Incubator on West Federal Street, just east of the Taft center construction site.

Five vacant buildings were demolished at the Taft center site late last year.

The $5.75 million project is more than 50 percent complete, Kosec said.

The roof was finished a few weeks ago permitting contractors to do interior work, he said.

Also, work to the rear exterior of the building, which is largely green-tinted glass, is progressing, Kosec said.

Construction on the three-story building began in August. There will be parking for the building in its basement and behind the building, Kosec said.

Also, the CIC should finalize a contract by next month with MS Consultants, a Youngstown company, for $44,531 to prepare documents needed to hire a company for a third high-tech project on West Federal Street.

That project would include turning the vacant Semple Building, just west of the Taft center, into a high-tech facility and demolishing two other empty buildings farther east on West Federal.

skolnick@vindy.com