43
Belmont bar deemed ‘nuisance’ to reopen with new owners soon
Another bar on the East Side is moving to a new location in the McGuffey Plaza.
YOUNGSTOWN — A Belmont Avenue bar, closed in January when a judge declared it a public nuisance, plans to reopen under new ownership as early as Dec. 10.
Judge John M. Durkin ordered The Cell at 221 Belmont Ave., across the street from the Mahoning County jail, boarded up and padlocked Jan. 8 until it was sold. The order was made at the request of the city because of complaints of underage drinking at the bar. City police responded to incidents there 99 times over a period of 21‚Ñ2 years before it was closed.
It took a while but Jason M. Moore, who owned the bar, sold it to Jamie Palumbo of Hubbard, said Richard LaCivita, the new owner’s attorney, and city Prosecutor Jay Macejko.
Palumbo agreed to a number of stipulations from the city to have the bar reopen, LaCivita and Macejko said.
Those stipulations include changing the admission age to the bar from 18 to 21, and requiring all employees to go through a state-sponsored program to help them identify those who are drunk or underage and shouldn’t be served alcohol, Macejko said.
“The city will keep a close eye on” the bar, he said. “We want [Palumbo] to operate the place in a lawful manner.”
At the recommendation of city officials, Judge Durkin agreed to allow Palumbo to remove the boards and padlocks from The Cell, and the removal began Monday.
Palumbo wants the bar to reopen Dec. 10, but the sale of the liquor license first needs to be approved by the state Department of Liquor Control, LaCivita said. It isn’t known when that approval will be given.
Moore, the prior owner, will have nothing to do with The Cell under Palumbo’s ownership, said La- Civita and Jeffrey A. Kurz, Moore’s attorney.
Meanwhile, another bar with a questionable history, Jitso’s Place at 2023 McGuffey Road on the city’s East Side, is expected to close early next year.
Zachary Howell, the bar’s owner for the past five years, said he’s moving his business to the former Classic Lanes bowling alley in McGuffey Plaza, a mostly vacant shopping center on McGuffey Road.
Howell said he plans to change the bar’s name because of “the stuff that happened in the past.”
That includes two homicides outside the bar in 1994, and repeated complaints from neighbors about violence and criminal activity for years.
“The place has been there for 33 years,” Howell said. “A lot of stuff happened before I got there. It’s a place with a reputation.”
There are still problems, but nothing as severe as murders or shootings, he said.
“It’s a bar, so you get some fighting,” Howell said. “I’ve had complaints of noise and beer bottles. I’m trying to do what’s best for everyone and moving will help. I wish I could own a doctor’s office, but I own a bar. It’s how I feed my six kids.”
Howell gave a lot of credit to Councilman DeMaine Kitchen, D-2nd, and the Cafaro Co., which owns the plaza, for helping to facilitate the move.
“It hasn’t been squeaky clean [under Howell’s ownership], but he’s done a decent job,” Kitchen said. “When he bought the place, he also bought all the stigmas that came with it.”
Kitchen said he wants the city to demolish Jitso’s once Howell relocates because the building is in bad shape.
skolnick@vindy.com