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Walkway to the city: Hazel Street extension opens
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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From left, dignitaries cutting the ribbon Monday to open the northward Hazel Street extension connecting Youngstown’s downtown to Youngstown State University outside the university’s Williamson College of Business are: Councilman John R. Swierz, D-7th; Jason Riffle, president of United Civil Contractors and Developers Inc. of Hubbard, which built the street; Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st; State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-33rd, of Canfield; State Rep. F. Hagan, D-60th, of Youngstown; Mayor Jay Williams; Cynthia Anderson, YSU president; State Rep. Ronald V. Gerberry, D-59th, of Austintown; David Mosure, vice president of MS Consultants of Youngstown, project engineers; and Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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The $2 million Hazel Street extension project begins with the curved section shown here that goes uphill from Commerce Street in the city’s downtown to Wood Street, with a retaining wall at right. The street extension then runs straight north for two blocks to its Lincoln Avenue terminus at the Youngstown State University campus.
YOUNGSTOWN
The northward extension of Hazel Street to Youngstown State University isn’t paved with gold, but it cost more than $2 million, and the mayor said it was worth it.
On Monday morning, city and university officials formally opened a two-block northward extension of Hazel Street, a two-lane concrete street, which is designed to link the university with the city’s downtown.
The brief outdoor ribbon-cutting ceremony was under a tent in snowy weather on the center-line of Hazel Street just south of Rayen Avenue.
The ceremony was in front of the university’s new $34.3 million Williamson College of Business building, which opened in August. Ten free, two-hour, on-street parking spaces are available on the new street in front of the business school.
When asked how the financially troubled city could afford the luxury of a new street, Mayor Jay Williams, who received a bachelor’s degree in finance from YSU’s business school in 1994, said the goal of having the new street justifies the expense.
“We have to invest in our future. This is an investment, and that investment will have a significant return by the caliber of students that graduate from this college. More and more, we’re seeing them remain here in the city of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley,” the mayor said.
“This will last for decades and decades to come. It further connects the university and the central business district. It is consistent with the growth and investment that we have seen in the central business district,” the mayor added.
“It’s going to provide our students with an opportunity to become much more engaged in the events and activities that take place in our downtown Youngstown area,” said Cynthia Anderson, university president.
“It’s also going to provide some opportunities for our students to get more acquainted with employers in some of the businesses down there and maybe even venture into some business opportunities of their own. This is just another walkway to our city,” she added.
In the extension project, Hazel Street was re-routed in a northeasterly direction between Commerce and Wood streets, where a retaining wall was built on the hillside, and extended northward from Wood Street to Lincoln Avenue.
In May, the city’s Board of Control hired United Civil Contractors and Developers Inc. of Hubbard under a $1.2 million contract to build the new Hazel Street, complete with sidewalks on both sides of it, between Commerce Street and Lincoln Avenue.
In its northernmost block between Rayen and Lincoln avenues, young trees have been planted on a median of brick inlays and grass that separates the northbound and southbound lanes.
Lighting fixtures should be installed on the street extension “within a week or so,” said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.
“From an economic development standpoint, it’s a great improvement. It’s going to increase the foot traffic to downtown from the university,” Shasho said of the new street.
Ironically, to build the street in conjunction with the opening of the business-school building, the city seized and demolished a building owned by a small business against the business owner’s will.
Hiring Cleveland lawyers, the city used eminent domain last year to take and raze the Grenga Machine and Welding Co. storage building at 128 W. Rayen Ave., paying its owner, Joseph Grenga, $225,000 for his property and $10,000 for moving expenses.
Several other buildings also were taken by the city and demolished without an eminent-domain legal fight. A Diocese of Youngstown parking lot where those buildings stood will be completed in the spring, Shasho said.
Some brickwork and landscaping also remains to be completed near Commerce Street, he added.
The total cost for the project was $2,003,000, including construction, property acquisition, outside legal services, appraisal, architectural, engineering and demolition costs, according to Kyle Miasek, deputy city finance director.
However, the city received reimbursements totalling $649,000 from other sources, including the diocese and the university. The university paid $351,000 toward the project, Miasek said.
Patrick Kelly, chief diocesan financial officer, said the diocese committed $220,000 to the city for the project and will pay additional money for the fencing and lighting of the diocesan parking lot.