City OKs purchase of 3 key properties

The city is close to buying an additional property needed for a YSU project.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control approved a $487,500 purchase of three key properties needed by Youngstown State University to build its new College of Business Administration.

The board agreed to the purchase Thursday, pending a final review by the city’s law department.

The three properties are all owned by a Canfield trust, headed by Sofie Cherol, whose late husband, John F. Cherol, was a longtime Youngstown businessman. Her son, John A. Cherol, is a trustee.

The properties are:

UThe former Ideal Store Fixtures building, 126 W. Wood St.

UThe former Cherol commercial building at 129 W. Rayen Ave. It’s a former auto dealership and a bus garage.

UThe former Phar-Mor corporate parking lot at West Wood and West Rayen.

An appraisal of the 1.75 acres of properties put their value at close to $800,000, said city Finance Director David Bozanich, a board of control member. The Cherols agreed to accept $487,500 from the city.

“My father was a Youngstown businessman for 80 years,” John A. Cherol said. “He believed strongly in the city. This is something he would have wanted to do, so we decided to do this in his memory.”

Also Thursday, the board finalized a $200,000 purchase of an apartment complex on 224 N. Phelps St. The board approved an option agreement in February to buy the complex from Earl Calvin of Canfield.

$30M project

YSU wants to build a $30 million college of business on West Wood, North Phelps, West Rayen and North Hazel Street.

The city is handling most of the property acquisition, contamination testing and demolition related to the project. YSU will do the architectural design and construction work.

City council approved legislation last year to advance up $2.5 million in city money for this project. The legislation states the city is to pay no more than $500,000 of the cost.

YSU will reimburse the city the entire $200,000 for the Calvin purchase and 60 percent of the Cherol cost, said Greg Morgione, the university’s associate general counsel. The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown will pay 30 percent of the Cherol cost as it needs a part of that land for its purposes, Morgione added.

A deal should be finalized shortly to purchase the former Alex Downie and Son auto service center on the corner of North Phelps and West Wood streets, said Jeff Chagnot, the city’s economic development director. YSU will reimburse the city for the full cost of the Downie purchase, Morgione said.

Downie would be the last piece of property YSU needs for the new building, Chagnot said.

Cleanup needed

Also, a $97,608 environmental study of this area done on behalf of the city and released in April states it would cost about $500,000 to remove asbestos and other hazardous materials from this area, primarily on the former Ideal Store Fixtures and Cherol commercial buildings sites.

The city is seeking a state grant to pay for at least a portion of the cleanup and demolition costs. Each of the three parties — the city, YSU and the diocese — would be financially responsible for the cleanup and demolition costs of their properties, Morgione said.

In conjunction with the YSU project, the city is planning to extend Hazel Street to provide a link between the university and downtown. The city hasn’t determined the cost of extending Hazel, but will pay the entire amount.

To extend Hazel, the city needs to acquire the Grenga Machine & Welding Co. property at 128 W. Rayen Ave.

The city isn’t negotiating with Joseph Grenga, the property’s owner, and will probably have to take him to court to gain ownership of the land, Bozanich said. The city plans to extend the street by the middle of next year, he said. The city offered $220,000 for the building, Grenga said, but he isn’t interested in selling.

skolnick@vindy.com