Demolition of Kress building downtown to begin Wednesday

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Demolition of the former Kress Building is scheduled to start Wednesday.

The work will cost about $385,000 to $400,000, and upon completion, the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., which owns the dilapidated structure, will sell the 117-121 W. Federal St. property to the city. The city’s board of control agreed Dec. 19 to buy the Kress land for $500,000. The CIC, a nonprofit downtown property agency run by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, will use that money to pay for the demolition work.

The project will consist of taking down the structure, backfilling and grading it to turn the site into a parking lot.

The project will require temporarily restricted parking along West Federal Street adjacent to the demolition operations. Closed to parking will be eight parking spaces nearby and the alleyway behind city hall from South Phelps Street to the 7th District Court of Appeals building, which is next to the Kress site.

The CIC attempted to sell the structure, built 94 years ago, without success.

It was last occupied in 2000 by the Wig Warehouse, but that business had to relocate because of the building’s unsafe condition.