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Youngstown Board of Control OKs $1.2M Hazel Street contract
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s board of control approved a $1.2 million contract with a Hubbard company to extend Hazel Street to provide a link between downtown and Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration.
Also Thursday, the board took steps needed for two major expansion proposals: a $44 million project by Exal Corp. at the Salt Springs Road Business Park, and a $2.7 million plan by VXI Global Solutions on the fifth floor at the city-owned 20 Federal Place building.
The board hired United Civil Contractors and Developers Inc., selecting the company over four other companies, to build Hazel Street between Commerce Street and Lincoln Avenue.
United Civil will start work no later than the end of June with the road project expected to be done by next spring, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public works department.
The road work is being done in conjunction with YSU’s $34 million business college project.
The board also approved increasing the city’s payment to Ricottilli Construction Co. of Poland from $21,000 to $72,000 for work needed for VXI, a call-center company based in Los Angeles, to expand at 20 Federal Place, the former Phar-Mor corporate office on West Federal Street.
The increase came at the request of VXI, which wanted the entire fifth floor to be demolished. The floor used to house Phar-Mor’s fur vault. The additional money was needed to demolish a refrigeration system that kept the fur vault cool, Shasho said.
While VXI hasn’t made a final decision, officials have said the company’s plan is to expand here.
VXI already occupies the building’s fourth floor with 450 employees and plans to hire another 200 shortly. The expansion would add 500 more jobs.
The board also agreed to spend $52,000 to pay the state to restore 1.3 acres of wetlands in Hartford Township. The work to be done on Salt Springs Road for a potential Exal expansion includes building on top of 0.85 of an acre of wetlands. The city must replace lost wetlands under state law, and the closest location to do so is in Hartford, said Sarah Lown, Youngstown’s development incentive director.
The money for the wetlands restoration would come from a state grant the city received for the Salt Springs improvement work, she said. The city has received about $5 million from the state for utility and site improvement work at the Salt Springs Road site.
Exal has two plants at the city’s Performance Place Business Park on Poland Avenue that employ 400. It is looking to build another plant at the city’s Salt Springs Road Business Park that would employ another 400 workers.
The company hasn’t made a final decision, but Delfin Gilbert, Exal’s president, said in February that he was confident construction of the new facility could begin this year.