Eyesore in downtown Y’town won’t be removed immediately

When Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams says the city still has the option of filing a lawsuit against the owners of the PNC Bank Building downtown because they haven’t removed the scaffolding that has been up for almost three years, we say, “We’ll believe it when we see it.” The mayor first talked about legal action against Park South Development Co. LLC. in June of last year when he said, “It’s gone beyond a reasonable period of time. Whatever they need to do to remove the scaffolding they need to do.”

On Tuesday, Williams explained that a lawsuit was not filed because Park South Development and its insurance company reached a settlement on the damage to the exterior of the building caused by high winds, noting that the goal is to “remedy the situation as quickly and as pragmatically as possible.”

Quickly? It was in early 2005 that two pieces of granite on the exterior of the structure’s Wick Avenue side fell onto the roof of a lower part of the building. Engineers, hired for insurance purposes, told the owners in late 2007 that other panels could also fall. In May 2008, South Park contacted the city about the granite falling and put up the scaffolding as a safety precaution.

In September 2009, in the midst of Park South Development and Cincinnati Insurance Co. battling over responsibility for the cost of the improvement work, a spokeswoman for the owners said the company would spend more than $1 million to improve the exterior. The announcement coincided with the building’s name changing from National City Bank to PNC Bank Building. Four PNC signs were to be placed on the nine-story structure.

PNC purchased National City on Dec. 31, 2008, and had all of the branches renamed PNC on Nov. 9, 2009.

And yet, the scaffolding is still in place — an eyesore in the heart of downtown.

For its part, city government has been so accommodating that it may well have set a dangerous precedent. On Jan. 24, 2010, a permit the company had obtained from the city to finish the exterior improvements, including securing the granite, expired. City Prosecutor Jay Macejko said at the time officials were gathering information for a lawsuit.

Another permit

But rather than a lawsuit, Park South was granted another 12-month permit in July of last year.

“We will monitor the progress carefully,” Mayor Williams said this week, after the building’s owners and a city committee that oversees exterior work on downtown structures reached an informal agreement. “If sufficient progress is not being made, we still have the option to litigate.”

The Design Review Committee could not enter into a formal agreement because it did not have a quorum.

Even so, it will be at least six months before the agreed to repairs are made and the scaffolding is removed.

Why the willingness by city government to accommodate Park South? The answer may lie in the company’s ties to Lou Frangos of Cleveland. Park South co-owns about a dozen buildings in downtown Youngstown with companies owned by Frangos. He has established a close relationship with administration officials.