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Realty event leaves guests really impressed
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Troy Miglets, of Austintown, looks up at the Realty Building from a balcony on the 11th floor, alongside Shanna Sallmen, Development officer with ysu and resident of new castle. "I just wanted to see the complex, see how they've progressed, its absolutely beautiful," said Sallmen.
Realty Tower tour
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Bill Sperlazza, Development Project Manager for the Frangos Group, gives a tour of the nearly-completed Realty Tower in downtown Youngstown.
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Chamber Members, Jim and Kim Foster, descend a staircase in one of the apartments on the 11th floor of the realty building on Thursday afternoon.
Realty Towers
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The Realty Tower Apartments has “the potential to be a transformational project for downtown,” Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams says.The mayor mentioned the 23-unit upscale apartment complex project, expected to be finished by Sept. 1, in the same breath as the Covelli Centre and the reopening of Federal Plaza.
Realty Tour panorama
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Renters also will have access to a large community room and exercise center.
YOUNGSTOWN — “It was a shell, an absolute shell.”
That was how Bill Sperlazza described the way the Realty Building looked 14 months ago, before work began to convert the empty building into 23 upscale apartments.
The 13-story building at 47 Federal Plaza East is anything but a desolate shell, as a few hundred business people and others found out during Thursday’s two-hour business mixer/open house.
Hosting the event was the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. Open during the guided tour were five of the building’s floors.
Sperlazza, development and project manager with the Frangos Group, touted the virtues of the three penthouse units that make up the 12th and 13th floors as people walked through the apartments, which range from 1,757 to 2,057 square feet.
The largest, which Sperlazza jokingly called “the Cadillac,” features a balcony and fireplace; all three have bright carpeting and walk-in closets as well as two bathrooms and bedrooms.
All major appliances are in place and ready to be hooked up, he said.
Construction got under way in June 2008. For the first few months, between 20 and 30 workers did little more than gut the building, Sperlazza recalled.
The Frangos Group of Cleveland, run by Lou Frangos, owns the building.
Also on display were the two units on the 11th floor, one of which was a model to give attendees a sense of what it could look like furnished. Ten floor plans were used for the 23 apartments to give each its own character, noted Mark Taylor, chief financial officer with the Frangos Group.
One unit on the second floor is accessible to those with physical challenges, Taylor added.
Troy Miglets of Austintown said he was impressed with what he saw as he stood in the entrance to one of the 11th-floor apartments.
“The architecture is very nice,” said Miglets, a manager with Robert Half International of Boardman, a professional consulting and staffing firm. “I think it will bring more people back into the inner city.”
Participants also got to see the fitness center and community room on the second and third floor, respectively.
The community room, which features soft muted yellow walls and carpeting, as well as a small kitchen, will be available for parties and other social gatherings.
One unit on each floor also has a tucked-away balcony overlooking Central Square. In addition, one apartment each on the third and fourth floor is complemented with rooftop decks.
The two- and three-bedroom apartments’ amenities also will include central air conditioning, large windows, secure indoor and outdoor parking, security cameras, laundry facilities and full baths.
Youngstown’s idea of trying to bring more people into the inner city is a microcosm of a trend that’s occurring across the country, noted Frangos.
Moving to cities is becoming more attractive for many partly because of high gasoline prices as well as being closer to work and having overall shorter commute times, he pointed out.
In addition, he continued, Realty is near several major hospitals and courthouses as well as Youngstown State University.
“It will be good for the city, good for business and good for the university to have a vibrant community,” Frangos said, adding that some YSU professors and personnel at St. Elizabeth Health Center and Forum Health Northside Medical Center are among those who have looked.
Rent for the apartments ranges between $1,400 and $2,300. Two have been rented.