S&T office to be razed

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The office building of the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., vacant for 36 years, will be demolished shortly.

At its Thursday meeting, city council will consider legislation authorizing the board of control to accept a $631,343 state grant for the demolition of the dilapidated structure.

The former Sheet & Tube building is on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in front of V&M Star.

The state money for asbestos abatement and demolition of the building comes from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund. The project costs about $872,000, with the city paying the difference.

The demolition should start relatively soon, and the work should be done in 60 to 90 days, Mayor Jay Williams said.

Once the building on the half-acre site is gone, the location will be used by V&M Star for green space and possibly a sign, Williams said. No structure will be built there, he said.

The city retains ownership of the site even though V&M will do improvement work there, Finance Director David Bozanich said.

“The office is a dark obstruction” to the V&M site, Williams said.

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

V&M is building a $650 million expansion project on about 200 acres near its plant. The company will hire 350 people to work at the expansion site.

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