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Youngstown committee approves first phase of exterior work to downtown hotel project
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s Design Review Committee approved the first phase of exterior work to the proposed downtown DoubleTree by Hilton hotel being built at the Stambaugh Building.
That work includes replacing windows at the building at 44 E. Federal St. as well as work to the terra cotta, including cleaning, replacing those missing and re-pointing them, said Paul Hagman, the project’s historic-preservation architect.
“It will give a cleaner, updated appearance to the building,” he said.
The committee approved the plan Tuesday.
As for a start to the exterior work, Hagman said, “I wouldn’t expect much activity until the fall.”
This part of the project will cost NYO Property Group, which owns the building, about $2 million to $3 million, Hagman said.
NYO also is replacing the roof, and doing some interior demolition and asbestos abatement to the vacant 12-story building.
The hotel project will cost $31 million, city officials say. If a nearby parking deck is demolished and replaced, the project’s cost increases to about $39.7 million.
NYO has a $5 million state tax credit and a $4 million federal tax credit it will collect after the project is done.
The work is slated to be finished by the end of 2017, Hagman said.
NYO started interior work last Friday, he said.
The company is disposing of ceiling tiles, old carpet, office supplies, chairs and other debris from inside the structure, Hagman said.
When the project is done, it will have about 120 beds, space for retail tenants and a restaurant on the ground floor that Warehouse 50 last occupied.
Also, the committee approved plans to demolish the rear portion of the First Educators Investment Corp. building at 147 W. Federal St.
The work to the structure on the corner of Hazel Street will begin as soon as the Mahoning County Building Inspection Department approves the plans, said Anita Gallo, an architect with Strollo Architects that is handling the project’s designs.
Demolition should take about two days, she said.
The rear portion is a little less than half of the building’s total 3,800 square feet, she said.
The work would also include exterior wood stairs because the other ways out of the building are being demolished.
About 100 to 150 bricks fell off the rear of the building in April 2015.
Gallo and Tony Bonner, Strollo’s project manager, said that part of the structure is in bad shape.
The rear portion has been vacant for about 25 years.