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Dilapidated North Side properties come down
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SITE IMPROVEMENT: Rubble is all that’s left of a house on Fifth Avenue at Park Street on Youngstown’s North Side. Seven dilapidated and boarded-up buildings are finally coming down. City officials refused to wait any longer for the buildings to be demolished; they had been vacant for two years.
YOUNGSTOWN —Seven dilapidated and boarded-up buildings on the city’s North Side located on property that was to be a medical facility at one time and then a student housing complex are finally coming down.
“This is so good for the city,” said William Conti, president of Stambaugh Auditorium, which is next to the structures being demolished. “The site was atrocious.”
Select Medical Corp., which purchased the buildings in 2006 for $2 million, has a purchase agreement with a company interested in developing the property on Fifth Avenue, between Westbound Service Road and Park Avenue, and next to Stambaugh.
The company is “doing its due-diligence and we hope the project goes through with no obstacles,” said Bob Wiley, a broker associate for Coldwell Banker Commercial, who is handling the property sale for Select Medical.
Wiley declined to name the company with the purchase agreement, Regarding a final deal, “nothing will happen before the spring,” he said.
But city officials refused to wait any longer for the buildings to be demolished, said Wiley and William D’Avignon, the city’s community development agency director.
The buildings sat vacant for two years.
“We expressed our concerns with the appearances of the property in a high-profile location,” Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams said. “They have a responsibility to maintain their property and I’m pleased they’re doing so.”
For the complete story, read Tuesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com