St. Joseph Hospital moved out in 1996.

By Ed Runyan

St. Joseph Hospital moved out in 1996.

WARREN — The trustee appointed to handle the bankruptcy case involving Riverside Square, the former St. Joseph Hospital building, says the building will be vacant by later this month or October.

Atty. Andrew Suhar of Youngstown, appointed trustee for the case in February, said he encouraged the last of the building’s tenants to relocate and is hopeful that the 240,000-square-foot facility will be easier to market once it is empty.

With the departure of the Trumbull County Republican Party earlier this month, there is only one organization, Safe House, still using the facility on Tod Avenue Northwest.

The Veterans Administration uses a renovated separate building at the site for a clinic.

Safe House, a private, faith-based residential treatment facility designed to help children age 12 to 17 develop a purpose for their lives, has continued its operations despite an order by the Warren Fire Department that it have around-the-clock fire monitoring because of the antiquated fire alarm system in the building.

Robert Denen, a pastor who runs the facility, could not be reached to discuss its future.

Ken Nussle, Warren’s fire chief, ordered Riverside Square to provide the monitoring around the first of the year, he said. In recent months, Safe House has been providing that with off-duty firefighters and others, Nussle said.

Nussle said the fire department has monitored progress on getting a new fire alarm system in the building since just after the hospital moved out.

The corporation operating the building, PKAM, operated by Tom and Jim Dobson, filed for bankruptcy protection in February, when there were about six tenants in the building.

Suhar said he is considering offers being made for the VA clinic portion of the facility but has not had any offers on the main building.

Suhar said it would not be cost-effective for him to install a new fire alarm system, estimated to cost about $75,000. But if the right company was interested in buying it, the cost of the system would not be much of an obstacle.

“It has potential to the right organization,” he said. The building’s first floor and part of the second floor are newly renovated, he noted.

But when he was appointed trustee, there were six tenants inside, four of which were using small spaces. That tenant base made the building less desirable to a buyer, Suhar said.

The St. Joseph Hospital staff relocated to the former Warren General Hospital on Eastland Avenue in 1996.

runyan@vindy.com