Youngstown Club closing is certain, but reopening is possible, official says

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The closing of the 110-year-old Youngstown Club and the layoff of its 20 employees after its New Year’s Eve party is now certain, a club official said Friday.

“We’re concentrating on the closure and making sure the deposits for future events are paid back and on meeting current expenses,” including payroll and taxes, said Fred Moran, one of its three co-presidents. Moran spoke after a Thursday general membership meeting of the club, which about 35 members attended.

“The possibility is there,” that the club might reopen later, but Moran said he could not speculate on the form or location in which that might occur.

“The name ‘Youngstown Club’ is still owned by the members,” said Moran, who is president of the Boardman-based Window World Penn-Ohio.

AtThursday’s dinner meeting, members discussed the club’s finances and reviewed the circumstances leading to its closing.

Over the years, the downtown club played host to steel executives, mayors and other dignitaries and to prominent local families.

At its peak in the 1970s and ‘80s, it had some 1,100 members, but, today, it has about 250, and years of declining membership and revenues have taken their toll.

Factors contributing to the club’s decline included the closing of major local companies, including most of the steel industry, the loss of many local bank headquarters due to bank mergers, and the elimination by Congress of tax-deductibility of club membership dues as business expenses, Moran said.

In recent years, booking wedding parties has been the club’s primary income source, and it has opened its doors for public dining on special occasions.