43
A property agency is looking for a business for a vacant downtown location
YOUNGSTOWN
Officials with a nonprofit downtown property agency will spend the next two or three months exploring possible uses for a large fenced-in hole that’s been in that condition since 2008.
Dave Kosec, project manager for the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., told board members Wednesday that finding a person or business interested in developing that location on West Federal Street is something he will focus on in the coming months. The development would either be done with the CIC or the agency would sell the land, he said.
“We’re trying to find the right user,” he said. “We’ll spend the next two to three months putting something together and hopefully by spring have it resolved.”
The hole has been there since 2008 when the CIC demolished the Armed Forces Building and the State Theatre, keeping the latter’s facade intact.
At one time, the CIC wanted to turn the hole into a parking lot.
That’s still an option, but Kosec said he’d like to see a building constructed there with parking.
“We’ve reached out to some people [about this property], and if someone has an interest, we’ll talk to them,” he said after the CIC meeting.
Nothing has been done with the location for the past couple of years because of the uncertainty of what would happen with the vacant Wells Building, just east of the hole, Kosec said.
But the agency sold Wells to Strollo Architects in November for $1 and that firm started a $5 million improvement project last month.
The plan is for Strollo Architects, housed at 20 Federal Place, to use the ground floor of the 23,564-square-foot Wells Building, 201 W. Federal St., as its office and have 12 apartments on the building’s upper three floors.
The work is to be finished by September.