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Gatta Group receives more than $1.3M to renovate downtown Youngstown building
YOUNGSTOWN
Renovations for the Gallagher Building, 23 N. Hazel St., in downtown are moving a step forward toward completion.
The Gatta Co. of Niles, a property development company, received a $1.32 million Ohio Historic Preservation tax credit from the Ohio Development Services Agency to update the building. The project is among 35 historic buildings throughout the state that received the tax credit.
“These projects transform vacant and underutilized properties into viable places for business and living,” David Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, said in a statement.
The total cost to renovate the Gallagher building is $5.9 million.
“It’s been a long time coming for this,” Dominic Gatta III, owner and president of the Gatta Co., said.
The upper floors of the building we’ll be renovated into 18 apartment units. Although plans are not finalized, the first floor is intended to reopen as a restaurant and brew pub, Gatta said.
The Gallagher building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, which Gatta said took 16 months before moving on to applying for the tax credit.
The historic designation triggered the 25 percent preservation tax credit from the state, and eventually a 20 percent federal tax credit, according to Vindicator files.
The building was built in 1904. It originally was owned by its namesake, John Gallagher, an Irish immigrant who came to America in 1864. The building was where Gallagher’s business grew to be the largest wholesaler of liquor in the city at the time.
Gallagher died in 1927.
Since 1975, the building was home to its only tenant, Cedar’s Lounge, a rock ’n’ roll bar. The bar was not permitted to stay after the Gatta Co. became its owner in September 2012 due to its plans to remodel the building.
Gatta said he is excited about “bringing another building back to life” in the city’s downtown area.
The design for the building will be finished within the next two months, with renovations starting in the spring, he said.
“I’m anxious to get started,” Gatta said.