Port authority takes action to buy Ridge Road building

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

VIENNA

The Western Reserve Port Authority has authorized a “letter of negotiation” with Millwood Inc. to purchase Millwood’s research-and-development building on Ridge Road for $1,075,000 if the authority can secure a Jobs Ready grant from the state.

The grant would provide 75 percent funding to acquire the building. The application deadline is Nov. 1.

The port authority also approved increasing the amount of bond funding it plans to secure in early December by $268,750 to provide the 25 percent match money required by the grant.

The port authority, which runs the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and conducts economic- development activities, would then attempt to lease or sell the building for an aeronautical use, said Dan Dickten, the airport’s director of aviation.

The building, formerly known as Davis Air Cargo building, sat vacant for many years until Millwood purchased it from private owners in 2009, but the Federal Aviation Administration objected to a lease the authority signed with Millwood for the land under the building.

The building, which was built by a private developer, is on airport land on the western edge of the airport.

Dickten said airport officials have talked with several companies, including General Motors, about becoming tenants of the building and making use of its air-cargo facilities.

GM could become an “anchor” for the facility, with other freight companies possibly sharing the facility. GM currently brings air freight to its Lordstown operations by way of Toledo Express Airport, but it doesn’t need a facility as large as the one on Ridge Road, Dickten said.

The authority is planning to sell bonds of $806,250 in early December. Besides the Jobs Ready match, the authority will pave parking areas and purchase equipment.

In other business, the board created a second economic-development position to assist Rose Ann DeLeon, the port authority’s executive director.

DeLeon, who is authorized to make the hiring decision, said the person hired will focus on brownfield remediation and land-banking issues. The person also will be a backup to DeLeon.

No salary amount has been set for the new full-time position, DeLeon said.