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Heidi Hanni saddened by move from father’s law office
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REMINISCING: Atty. Heidi Hanni looks over photos of her late father, Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr., with world and national leaders, on the walls of his office at 219 W. Boardman St. in downtown Youngstown. Unable to meet high building-maintenance and utility costs there, the Hanni law firm is moving to Boardman today.
The building was a thriving law office and Democratic Party headquarters.
YOUNGSTOWN — Unable to keep up with high building- maintenance and utility costs, the Hanni law firm is moving out of its downtown office and relocating to Boardman today.
In doing so, it is leaving behind fond memories of the 37,000-square-foot, 1937-vintage building, which housed the office of Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr.
The late Atty. Hanni practiced law there for about 37 years until shortly before his death in July 2008 at age 82. The two-story brick structure at 219 W. Boardman St. once housed 15 lawyers.
Originally an Arthur Murray dance studio, the building was the headquarters of the Mahoning County Democratic Party while Hanni was party chairman from 1978 to 1994.
His daughter, Atty. Heidi Hanni, who practiced law there with him for seven years, said the building is in “dire need” of major repairs, and its gas bills for the upstairs law offices run as high as $1,200 a month.
“It needs a new roof. It needs new windows. The plumbing system is shot. The electrical is shot. And right now, you know, in this economy, financially we can’t afford to renovate it,” Hanni said.
She said, however, the office has substantial sentimental value. “It’s breaking my heart” to close it, she said.
Hanni said she and Attys. Shelli Ellen Freeze and Justin Malmfeldt are relocating to 1714 Boardman-Poland Road under the name “Hanni Law.”
Atty. Jeff Kurz will remain downtown, relocating his office to a West Federal Street address, Hanni said.
Hanni reminisced about her father in a Friday interview in his second-floor office, whose walls remained adorned with photos showing him with a who’s who of world and national leaders during his long career as a lawyer and political activist.
“This has only been the third time I’ve been in this office since he passed away. I have had a hard time even coming in here,” she said.
She added she hopes eventually to renovate the building and reopen it, possibly as a downstairs pub called the Bull Moose Tavern, bearing her father’s nickname and displaying his memorabilia, with student apartments upstairs.
milliken@vindy.com