43
Owner says he’ll repair A-1 Parking structure
YOUNGSTOWN
The owner of a downtown parking deck condemned by the city for structural problems plans to make the needed improvements to reopen the structure, his attorney said.
Alan Matavich, a Struthers attorney, said Thursday that his client — Yeshohua Weider of Brooklyn, N.Y., who owns A-1 Parking at 23 W. Boardman St. — has agreed to make the repairs “as soon as possible.”
Matavich met Tuesday with city officials about the work needed at the parking deck.
The five-story structure could be partly reopened if I.A. Lewin, P.E. and Associates, a Cleveland engineering firm hired by Weider, reinspects the deck and determines it could be used safely during repairs, said Mayor Charles Sammarone and Brenda Williams, the city’s chief building official.
“He’ll give us a report, we’ll review it, and if it’s acceptable, we’ll let them reopen it,” Sammarone said.
“I want the business open, but it’s in the owner’s hands,” Williams added.
But the deck won’t be fully reopened, they said, until items in immediate need of attention, as outlined in I.A. Lewin’s March 30, 2011, report, are addressed.
That includes repairs to beams over various ramps and above windows on the building’s east side and to corroded columns.
“It’s under consideration,” Matavich said about having the engineer look at the deck and determine if it could reopen while being repaired.
The city condemned the deck March 15 because it poses an “imminent danger,” said Dana Lantz, the city’s first assistant law director/housing prosecutor.
The city first contacted Weider about an inspection of the structure in November 2010 after portions of the parking building’s exterior fell onto the street.
A month later, Weider hired I.A. Lewin to inspect the 200-parking-space building.
The report was completed March 30, 2011, and given to the city Aug. 24 of that year. But nothing was done until the city condemned the deck last week.
Weider said the work is very expensive, estimated to cost $200,000 to $400,000.
“It’s too bad you’ve got to shut something down to get results,” Sammarone said. “They were told a year ago [by I.A. Lewin] to do something.”
Weider said he was negotiating with a contractor to make the repairs when the city condemned the deck.
Last week, Weider compared Youngstown to the Cuban government, saying, “There are no laws in Youngstown. They are doing whatever they want.”
Matavich said Thursday that his “client was a little upset because he was working” to improve the deck.
Weider bought the building in 2009 for $200,000 and doesn’t own any other property in the area.
Also, a bail-bondsman office and the Wig Warehouse, located on the deck’s ground floor, were condemned by the city for failure to have adequate water and bathroom facilities, Williams said.
They will remain closed until those issues are resolved, she said.
Meanwhile, improvement work is to begin today on another downtown parking deck.
The city received a request Thursday from USA Parking Systems for permits to make structural improvements to the Plaza Parking Deck at 16 N. Champion St.
The city didn’t condemn the Plaza Parking Deck, but Williams said there is structural damage there that needs to be improved.
Needed improvements weren’t made as USA Parking, operated by Louis Frangos, lost ownership of the building.
Frangos said in October that a judge had ordered the work to stop because the deck was in receivership.
However, in a Thursday email to The Vindicator, Frangos wrote: “We are making repairs and running the Plaza Deck again temporarily as a manager for the receiver for the time being until a total deal is solidified to take back control permanently.”
USA Parking bought the deck, with about 1,000 spots, for $1.75 million in 2001.