Funding approved for demolition

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. used the office building from 1920 to 1974.

By Marc Kovac

COLUMBUS — The state Controlling Board approved funding Monday for the demolition of the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. office building in Youngstown, part of the property proposed for an expansion of V&M Star Steel.

The $631,343 in Clean Ohio funding will be used to take down the structure on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and remove asbestos and other waste at the site.

The total cost of the project is about $872,000, and the city has committed to funding the balance, according to documents.

The half-acre site has been used by the steel industry for most of the last century and was operated by Youngstown Sheet & Tube from 1920 until 1974, according to documents.

Once the building is removed, the site will be used by V&M Star Steel, should the company commit to a $970 million expansion of their current operations, on about 200 acres on the border of Youngstown and Girard.

Company officials are supposed to make a decision on the expansion project, next to its current Youngstown facility, later this month.

The expansion would double the size of the company’s current mill operations, creating about 500 jobs, according to documents.

V&M manufactures seamless steel tubes used in the oil and gas industry.

mkovac@dixcom.com