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E. Federal traffic to be restored
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The problems caused by the fallen windows at the Stambaugh Building have hurt a restaurant’s business.
YOUNGSTOWN — East Federal Street should be fully open today after a portion of it closed June 5 when a window from the Stambaugh Building crashed to the ground.
But it will be about three more weeks before the walkway in front of the building is reopened to pedestrian traffic, said Brenda Williams, the city’s chief building official.
That means those wanting to dine at Buffalo Wild Wings, the Stambaugh Building’s lone tenant, will continue to navigate around the barrier put up by the city.
The barrier, along with the closing of East Federal Street and the parking lots near Buffalo Wild Wings, has “had a huge impact on our business,” said Alan Drennen, the restaurant’s regional manager.
The restaurant’s lunch traffic “is off a bit” as those who work downtown continue to dine there, he said.
The biggest blow is the dinner business, Drennen said.
Drennen said he’s glad East Federal Street is reopening and believes the dinner crowd will return once the barrier is removed.
Louis A. Frangos, whose company owns the Stambaugh Building, hired All American Window and Door of Cleveland for $61,700 to reinstall windows at the East Federal Street historic structure. The work was supposed to be done no later than Tuesday, but it stalled last week because the company ran out of caulk, Williams said.
All American received a shipment of about 1,000 tubes Tuesday and “they’re moving like gangbusters,” she said. Williams said she was frustrated by the delay, but is very pleased with the work done since Tuesday.
The work to the south side of the building is expected to be done today, she said. The windows will then be inspected by the city. Upon that approval, East Federal Street between Wick Avenue and Champion Street will reopen, she said.
The city closed that section to traffic June 5 when a window being removed by Frangos’ employees crashed onto East Federal Street as Williams watched.
At the time of that incident, 370 of the 531 windows on the upper 12 floors of the 13-story building were removed without city permission.
Frangos had employees remove the windows starting May 28 after two fell in the rear of the building.
Frangos wanted to take out all the glass windows and replace them with plywood. After the city’s Design Review Committee refused to permit that, Frangos agreed to reinstall the windows removed as well as make improvements to the windows that weren’t.
A small number of the windows can’t be reused. The city is permitting the use of plastic-type windows to be installed in those cases.
The project was to take up to eight weeks.
Despite a few delays, the work is expected to be finished on time with All American crews working 12-hour days, Williams said.
The Design Review Committee also gave the go-ahead Wednesday to a plan to improve the exterior of the vacant Semple Building on West Federal Street between the Taft Technology Center and Home Savings and Loan.
The Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., a downtown property redevelopment agency, plans to turn the Semple Building into a technology center, similar to Taft and the Youngstown Business Incubator.
The agency received $2.75 million in state funds and $282,000 in federal money to redevelop Semple as well as demolish the vacant Armed Forces Building and the former State Theatre, both on West Federal Street.
The theater’s historic facade would remain.
The exterior work to Semple is being done before interior improvements because of the poor condition of the former, said Robert J. Bajko of Hengst Streff Bajko Architects, the Cleveland company designing the building.
Most of the exterior work is needed on the first floor of the three-story building, he said. Also, all the building’s windows will be replaced and a metal canopy will be added to the front entrance, Bajko said.
The exterior work should start in a few months and be done by late this year or in early 2009.
skolnick@vindy.com