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The retired president of the Cafaro Co. looks to the future for his family-run business
WARREN
Anthony Cafaro Sr., the retired president of the Cafaro Co., remembers the past when looking to the future for his family-owned business.
During a 41-minute presentation Wednesday to the Rotary Club of Warren, Cafaro said he and his sons – William A. and Anthony Cafaro Jr., the company’s co-presidents – want to develop about 105 acres behind the Eastwood Mall complex in Niles that is largely in Howland with a portion in Warren.
Though it could take five, 10 or even 15 years for work to be done there, Cafaro said: “It’s going to be developed for a multitude of uses – offices, health care, educational, multifamily residential, maybe a convention center or entertainment facilities.”
There also could be hotels and specialized retail stores at the location, he said.
However, Cafaro said rumors of a water park there aren’t true.
That location “will eventually become a very important asset that will complement the existing Eastwood Mall complex,” he said. “I just can’t say what it is going to be. Just like my father years ago, we’re still dreaming about it. We can’t wait until our dreams become a reality.”
The company is known for its retail property-development business, but Cafaro said it’s moved in other directions including offices, entertainment and lodging.
“We’ve moved from just retail to retail, entertainment, services, lodging,” he said. “You can’t just be retail anymore.”
Also, Cafaro Co. is building a 30,000-square-foot event center for conferences and banquets at the Eastwood property that Cafaro said he hopes will be done next year.
Cafaro retired as company president in December 2009 and turned the business over to his sons.
After his presentation and 10 minutes of questions and answers, a reporter noted that it didn’t sound like Cafaro, 70, was retired.
“I go there when I want to go,” he said. “I get there at 10, 11 in the morning. If I want to play cards in the afternoon then I play cards in the afternoon. I don’t get paid, so they can’t [complain] about me not being there often enough.”
In the recent Oakhill Renaissance Place corruption trial, Cafaro was often mentioned by prosecutors, though he wasn’t under indictment.
Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino and failed 2008 county prosecutor candidate Martin Yavorcik were all found guilty in the scandal. They were all given probation.
Cafaro declined Wednesday to discuss the matter with The Vindicator.
During his Rotary presentation at Enzo’s Restaurant & Lounge, Cafaro smiled and said to the newspaper’s politics writer: “If you’re looking for politics, you came to the wrong joint.”
Cafaro spent much of his time during Wednesday’s presentation telling the story of how his father, William M. Cafaro, rose to prominence in business, starting as a laborer at a steel plant, becoming a manager while saving money to open the Ritz Bar & Supper Club on the East Side of Youngstown in 1934 at age 21 and owned it for 20 years.
Beginning in the late 1940s, William M. Cafaro began developing shopping centers, and the business grew to become the largest privately-held shopping center development company in the United States.
Anthony Sr. said he learned to work hard and to have a vision from his father, who died in 1998.
“My father was a gentlemen’s gentleman,” he said. “Those are tough shoes to fill. I try. I try my best.”