Youngstown to explore amphitheater, park near Covelli Centre
Youngstown is seeking firms to submit qualifications for design work along the Mahoning River, including an amphitheater at its Covelli Centre.
YOUNGSTOWN
The city is seeking qualifications from firms to do design work along the Mahoning River that includes an amphitheater at the Covelli Centre and a possible park at the site of the former Wean United Building.
The location to be improved stretches from underneath the South Avenue Bridge to just west of Hazel Street.
“This could perhaps be the beginning step of a riverwalk” at the former Wean location, said Mayor John A. McNally. “It’s the greening of the entire property.”
A year ago, the city asked for qualifications from firms for design and architectural work on a proposed amphitheater after receiving approval from city council to spend up to $90,000 to hire a consultant to design an outdoor facility. The city received eight proposals, but did nothing.
The difference now is “the momentum of developing downtown is increasing,” McNally said. “I need to clean up both sides of the Market Street Bridge. The success of the Covelli Centre is growing, and with Wean demolished, I’d like to move forward and clean up that location and give it a park-like setting. There is no large green space in downtown Youngstown.”
Eric Ryan, the Covelli Centre’s executive director, said he’s “extremely excited” the city is revisiting the amphitheater idea he proposed four years ago.
The city-owned center has lost money in the third quarter, July to September, in eight of the nine years it’s been open because acts want to perform outdoors, Ryan said.
An amphitheater would add more summer events at the center, which would bring in more revenue, and it could be used for community activities, Ryan said.
“An amphitheater would be a fantastic addition to the Covelli Centre,” he said. “It would be a difference-maker in terms of big events in the summer.”
The estimated construction cost last year for an amphitheater was $2 million to $3 million.
McNally said Tuesday that he doesn’t know how much would be spent on the facility, but said none of the city’s general-fund money would be used for either the amphitheater or the park.
Some money would come from the water and wastewater funds as well as from the naming rights for the amphitheater, he said. Also, the city would seek grants from the state and federal governments and foundations, he said.
As for the Wean location, there was earlier talk of the city using some of that land for parking.
But McNally said Tuesday: “I believe there’s sufficient parking downtown. We’ve got enough parking.”
Once a firm or more than one firm is selected, based on qualifications, proposals would be made and the city would decide how to proceed with the projects, McNally said.
The former Wean United Building, one of downtown’s biggest eyesores, was demolished about six months ago. As part of a deal with the property owner, the 10.43-acre site was turned over to the city.
At its peak in the early 1970s, the plant employed 1,300, but it closed in 1982.
It last was occupied in 2011 by Youngstown Pipe and Supply.