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The sign will cost about $70,000.
The sign will cost about $70,000.
YOUNGSTOWN — It’s taken longer than originally planned, but there should be a digital marquee sign outside of the city-owned Chevrolet Centre by the end of the year.
The free-standing, 10-foot-high sign to tout upcoming events at the center was supposed to be erected when the facility opened in October 2005. But officials put the project the back burner because of financial concerns.
The city provided $11.9 million of the $45 million needed to build the center. Most of the money to construct the facility came from a $25.8 million federal grant obtained by then-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. The sign wasn’t seen as a priority because the city was spending more money than it had anticipated toward the construction of the center.
Though the city’s financial situation has worsened, it set aside money in this year’s budget for the sign, which will cost about $70,000, said K. Anthony Hayek, director of architecture for MS Consultants, the Youngstown firm hired by the city to oversee the project.
It will be up and running in front of the center on East Front Street by the end of the year, he said.
Proposals for a company to build the sign will be accepted by the end of the month, he said. The project should take about two months to finish.
The city’s design review committee approved the sign proposal Wednesday.
“It’s important to have this to promote events at the center,” Hayek said of the sign.
The city is working with the Ohio Department of Transportation to install similar signs on Interstate 680 at the north and south entrances to the city.
Also Wednesday, the design review committee approved exterior improvements to 25 W. Federal St., currently a vacant building near the downtown square. Except for a handful of art exhibits at the building in the past year, it’s been vacant since a shoe store closed shop about 14 years ago.
James and Weaver, a Youngstown company, purchased the building two years ago. It plans to lease the first floor to a retail company and use the second floor for office space, said Denise Powell, who owns the business.
skolnick@vindy.com