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A-1 Parking owner OKs $186K pact for deck repairs
YOUNGSTOWN
The owner of the downtown A-1 Parking deck, condemned by the city because of its poor condition, signed a $186,730 contract with a construction company to make the necessary repairs to reopen for business.
Angel Ortiz, owner of AO Construction and Restoration, the Boardman company making the repairs, said interior cleanup of the building at 23 W. Boardman St. started Friday, and the exterior work, including removing loose pieces, would begin today.
It will take about six to eight months for the work to be completed, Ortiz said.
“We’re going to try to have it done before that, but we want to do it right,” he said.
The city issued a permit Tuesday for the work that allows the project to take up to a year to complete, said Brenda Williams, the city’s chief building official.
Yeshohua Weider of Brooklyn, N.Y., who owns the deck, had told city officials last month that he couldn’t afford the cost needed for the improvement work and that he likely would be forced to sell the building.
Weider couldn’t be reached Friday by The Vindicator for comment. But Ortiz said Weider is paying for the work and plans to keep the building.
Williams said she is glad the work is being done.
“This is a very good thing,” she said. “They’re proceeding as we requested. The priority is to get the deck reopened.”
Weider previously had requested the deck remain open during repairs, but an engineering firm hired by him said that shouldn’t be done.
The city condemned the 200-space parking deck March 15 because it poses an “imminent danger” to the public, city officials say.
A November 2010 inspection by I.A. Lewin, P.E. and Associates of Cleveland, followed by another one last month by that firm, showed immediate repairs were needed to beams, corroded columns and windows.
Weider bought the building in 2009 for $200,000 and repeatedly has said he didn’t have the money for the repairs.
The November 2010 inspection occurred at the request of the city after portions of the building’s exterior fell onto the street.
Also, a bail-bondsman office and Wig Warehouse, located on the deck’s ground floor, were condemned March 15 for failure to have adequate water and bathroom facilities, Williams said.
The bail bondsman is supposed to be closed, Williams said. People were in the office Friday. Also, Wig Warehouse, a downtown fixture for decades, has removed all of its merchandise, and it appears the business won’t reopen.