As county exits S. Side Annex, appraisal planned for its sale

August 3, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County commissioners hired Coppola Realty Services of Liberty for $5,000 to do an appraisal of the county’s South Side Annex to determine its fair market value in preparation for its possible sale and reuse.

John A. McNally IV, chairman of the commissioners, said the county plans to close the building this fall. He said he wants to see the building demolished if a new use for it can’t be found to avoid having it become a vandalized building contributing to neighborhood blight.

McNally said he hopes the county’s adult day-care center will move to Westchester Drive in Austintown by Labor Day; the county’s auto title department is scheduled to move to Oakhill Renaissance Place over Labor Day weekend; and he expects the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force to leave the building this month or next month. Those are the last remaining annex occupants.

The annex building, 2801 Market St., in the city’s Uptown District, once housed Sears and Treasure Island department stores.

WRESTLING TO RETURN

Also on Thursday, the commissioners heard Phil Moore, county convention and visitors’ bureau director, announce that the Ohio State Boys’ Wrestling Championships will be returning in March to the Covelli Centre with a 22 percent increase expected in the number of wrestlers.

The two-week tournament for junior high and early high school boys drew more than 2,200 wrestlers and filled local hotels this year, he said.

“The parents say that this is a great place to come for an event like this” because of ease of road access and lack of traffic congestion here, Moore observed. He added the parents reported: “The hotels treat them well, and there’s plenty to do when they get here.”

GLENWOOD PAVING

County Engineer Richard Marsico said repaving of Glenwood Avenue between Southwoods Boulevard and Ewing Road in Boardman is ongoing and expected to be completed Monday or Tuesday, with one lane of traffic maintained in each direction while the work is occurring.

Once Glenwood is completed, paving will be completed on Raccoon Road between U.S. Routes 224 and 62 in Canfield, he said.

Hopkins Road in Boardman has been milled in preparation for repaving between Truesdale and Shields roads.

Repaving is complete on Kirk Road from state Route 46 to Turner Road in Austintown, on Dobbins Road from state Route 170 to Struthers Road in Poland, and on McGuffey Road in Coitsville from state Route 616 to the Pennsylvania line.

The commissioners will not meet next week. Their next scheduled meeting will be at 10 a.m. Aug. 16 in the county courthouse basement.