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Student-housing builder buys fire station for $1M
The station is 109 years old, one of the oldest in the state, the fire chief says.
YOUNGSTOWN — The financially struggling city sold a fire station on Madison Avenue for $1 million to a company planning to build student housing.
But the sale Thursday does nothing to help the city’s financial bottom line, said Kyle Miasek, deputy finance director.
That’s because the city expected to sell Fire Station No. 7 and built the $1 million purchase price into the 2009 general-fund budget, he said.
The city’s general fund is still on target to have a deficit of more than $1 million this year, Miasek said.
Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said he wants the city to use the $1 million and save about $500,000 to build a replacement station for the Madison Avenue location and Station No. 9 on Midlothian Avenue.
Both fire stations are in poor structural shape, and it would cost hundreds of thousands to repair them, O’Neill said.
“It wouldn’t be cost-effective to improve them,” he said, adding that the Madison Avenue station is 109 years old, one of the oldest operating fire stations in the state.
US Campus Suites LLC, which is constructing The Flats at Wick student-housing complex, plans to use the Station No. 7 property for a second phase.
That second phase is at least three years away, city officials say.
In the meantime, the city will lease the one-truck, three-man fire station from US Campus Suites for $10 a year.
The city’s board of control approved the $1 million sale Thursday.
A few seconds later, the board approved spending about $1.2 million for water-system improvements needed for the student-housing project.
The $1.2 million grant comes from the city’s water and wastewater funds, Miasek said.
US Campus Suites plans to spend about $7.3 million on the first phase of its project.
That phase includes a 115-bed apartment building near Madison Avenue and Elm Street near Youngstown State University.
The city lent up to $2 million to the company to help finance the housing project almost a year ago. The company has up to 18 months from the time it borrowed the money to repay it.
The company provided an irrevocable letter of credit from KeyBank, so if it defaults, the bank would cover the loan.
The final project calls for 450 beds in four buildings at a cost of $28 million.
Also Wednesday, the board of control approved early- retirement/resignation buyouts for nine fire department members, who make as much as $71,030 in annual base pay.
The city will hire 10 rookie firefighters early next year who’ll earn $24,000 in base pay in their first year, O’Neill said.
The city will save about $283,500 next year through the buyouts.
The deal pays each person taking the offer a year’s base salary paid over five years.
Twenty firefighters took the same buyout deal last year, saving the city about $700,000 this year and about the same in 2010.
The city is also offering another early-retirement/resignation deal to its ranking police officers.
The deal is the same as the one offered to the firefighters: a year’s base salary paid over five years.
Seven ranking officers took the buyout when it was first offered in July.
At least three police officers are expected to take the buyout, and as many as five could take the deal, Miasek said. The last day to take the buyouts would be in early January.
skolnick@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
Fire department buyouts
The Youngstown Board of Control approved early-retirement/resignation deals for nine firefighters. The buyout gives each person a year’s base salary paid over five years. Below are the nine who took the deal and their annual base salaries:
kBattalion Chief Robert Hian, $71,030
kBattalion Chief David L. Harris, $71,030
kCapt. Robert R. Banks, $62,071
kCapt. James Hellman, $62,071
kCapt. Reinaldo Sanchez, $62,071
kCapt. Gary R. Chance, $62,071
kInspector Sharyl E. Frasier, $57,902
kLt. William R. Pollock, $57,902
Sources: Youngstown Board of Control and Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr.