City making progress on West Federal Street

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — It wasn’t that long ago that boarded-up buildings dominated a key section of one of downtown Youngstown’s busiest streets.

That area is now the scene of scaffolds, plastic fences and construction sites.

The dilapidated structures lined the south side of West Federal Street from near Vindicator Square to Hazel Street — except for a few notable exceptions such as Home Savings and Loan, the Youngstown Business Incubator, the Downtown Draught House and the First Educator’s building.

But in about two years, 13 of those vacant structures are gone.

In their place are the 7th District Court of Appeals, a parking lot ready for future development and a construction site where the 30,000-square-foot Taft Technology Center is being built. The Taft center is set to open no later than March 15.

“Just a few years ago, it was a depressed area,” said Kenneth A. Carano, the governor’s regional director for the Mahoning Valley. “Now it looks great. I’m stunned by the progress.”

Carano’s office is in the George V. Voinovich Government Center, across the street from the Taft construction site.

The Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., a downtown redevelopment agency making the improvements, isn’t done.

The dilapidated Armed Forces Building and State Theatre, near Hazel Street, are to come down by the end of 2008. A parking lot and green space area will replace them.

The agency plans by the end of next year to turn the Semple Building into a high-tech facility, similar to the Taft facility and the Youngstown Business Incubator.

The CIC board agreed Tuesday to hire MS Consultants of Youngstown for $44,531 to prepare documents needed to hire a company to remove asbestos from Semple, Armed Forces and the State Theatre.

The CIC plans to demolish the latter two with the hope of saving the theater’s façade.

“Not only do we remove blight that was such an embarrassment, we added and will add buildings that bring life to the area,” said Reid Dulberger, the CIC’s acting president and executive vice president of the Regional Chamber. “We’ve come a long way.”

The CIC has succeeded in obtaining federal and state money for its projects. It received $5.9 million for the Taft facility. It has $2.75 million in state dollars for the work at Semple, Armed Forces and the State Theatre buildings.

It’s looking for about $3 million to $5 million to rehabilitate the Wells Building on the corner of Hazel and turn it into a high-tech facility.

CIC officials will meet sometime after the first of the year with Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher to discuss in detail its needs for the Wells Building and other projects, Carano said.

“This administration is impressed by the CIC,” Carano said. “I enjoy working in the Voinovich building watching the Taft building being built. I’m hoping to have a Strickland building built nearby.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, also is impressed by the CIC’s work.

“There is no question that downtown Youngstown is moving in the right direction,” he said. “With a renewed emphasis on technology, the city can and should position itself to be a center of excellence. Companies located in downtown Youngstown bring with them very talented workers and highly competitive wages. I believe that our downtowns need to be vibrant centers of business and government, and Youngstown is becoming just that.”

The CIC also recently sold the John R. Davis Building to the Sweet Jenny Land Co. The company is spending about $300,000 to rehabilitate the building. The project should be done by March 2008.

The plan is to have Ronald C. Faniro Architects Inc. on the second floor, have one of the Sweet Jenny partners live on the third floor and lease the first floor.

“We’re glad to be involved in the redevelopment of downtown,” said Faniro, secretary-treasurer of Sweet Jenny.

While Sweet Jenny renovates the building, its owners already have received six unsolicited requests to occupy the first floor, including one by the owner of the former Bean Counter coffee shop that closed its East Federal Street business earlier this month.

skolnick@vindy.com