Restoring Wick-Pollock

By Harold Gwin

Reopening the inn has long been a goal for YSU President David C. Sweet.

YOUNGSTOWN — The historic Wick-Pollock Inn has sat vacant for the last decade, and a study of its potential re-use shows it will cost close to $2 million to renovate and restore the mansion to its former grandeur.

The study, done by Faniro Architects of Youngstown, offered three possible scenarios for the project that include various levels of improvements to the mansion property as well, with total costs ranging between $3.9 million and $4.3 million.

It was presented recently to the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees, which has tentatively earmarked $3,950,000 for the job as part of the $47 million being borrowed to improve various campus facilities under the YSU master plan.

A tentative timetable shows the work beginning in the spring of 2010.

The mansion, at 603 Wick Ave., is an important part of a campus gateway, and its historic aspects need to be restored, said Hunter Morrison, YSU director of campus planning and community partnerships.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and any restoration must be done to those standards, he told the trustees.

It was built as a residence by the Pollock family in the early 1890s and given to the university in the late 1970s.

It housed classrooms, offices and 14 guest suites before undergoing a 60-room expansion in 1980 when it became a full-service hotel operated by a private company under a lease arrangement with the university.

The inn was forced to close in 1998 for financial reasons, and getting it refurbished and reopened has been a goal of YSU President David C. Sweet since he came to the university in 2000. He has said many times that he would like to see the building, its carriage house and gardens restored.

YSU students, aided by campus staff, spent time and money in 2007 restoring the “sunken gardens” portion of the mansion’s gardens — three terraces involving a lot of stone work and plantings. The “walking gardens” section remains to be restored.

The property was tied up in a legal battle with a bank for several years over a property lien on money borrowed by the inn operator to build the expansion. That issue was resolved in 2004 with the university paying the bank $500,000 for its interest in the property.

Since then, the university has tried to find a developer interested in reopening the inn in some fashion, perhaps linking its operation with YSU’s hospitality management program, but the efforts have so far been unsuccessful.

The Faniro study offers three scenarios: The university would operate Wick-Pollock as a University Inn consisting of two meeting rooms and 14 sleeping rooms with continental food service; it would operate as a University Inn Plus with two meeting rooms, 22 sleeping rooms with full food service and four hospitality management laboratories; or it would be a University Conference Center with full food service, 10 conference rooms, 14 sleeping rooms and four hospitality management laboratories.

All three proposals would involve at least partial demolition of the 1980 addition to the structure.

The university would seek assistance from state historic preservation funding for some of the restoration work, Morrison said, adding that the challenge now will be to find funding to handle the demolition portion of the job. That portion of the work is expected to cost around $500,000.

He said the university will refine the Faniro study over the next several months and bring revisions back to the trustees.

Trustee Dr. H.S. Wang, chairman of the board’s Finance and Facilities Committee, suggested that it would be beneficial to arrange a tour of the inn for members of the board so all can be familiar with the facility and perhaps come up with some additional suggestions as to its future use.

gwin@vindy.com