YSU will demolish former union hall

By Denise Dick | January 9, 2015 at 12:06a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Another building near the Youngstown State University campus is slated for demolition.

John Hyden, YSU executive director of facilities, said the former United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 171 union hall at 348 W. Rayen Ave., next to Charlie Staples Bar-B-Que, is scheduled for razing Monday.

“In the short term, it will probably be used for parking,” he said.

No long-term plans for the space have been identified.

YSU bought the building in 2010 for $145,000, the appraised value, from the union, which moved to another location. Hyden sad the union established a scholarship at the university with a “significant chunk” of that amount.

The building, built in 1966, had been vacant for about a year when YSU bought it. The state Controlling Board approved the purchase in May 2010.

“We were hoping to find a use for it,” the executive director said.

Those attempts were unsuccessful, though, and YSU was paying to maintain the building so it opted instead to demolish it.

Siegel Excavating of Edinburg, Pa., is doing the work for about $67,000.

In December 2009, university trustees voted to buy six properties — five residential lots and the carpenters’ hall. The property came with about 70 parking spaces.

YSU at the time was buying property along what it termed its “Fifth Avenue Gateway.”

The university had been purchasing primarily individual residential lots in the area west of Stambaugh Stadium bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Belmont Avenue on the west, Arlington Street on the south and the Madison Avenue Expressway on the north.

The intended use of the property purchased changed over time, but ultimately, the university constructed a $4.3 million sports complex in that area. The complex, across from Stambaugh Stadium, includes Farmers National Bank Field. Besides the synthetic-turf soccer field, the complex features an eight-lane all-weather track, softball field, lighting for the fields, stands, restrooms, walkways, fencing and a concession stand.