Strollo Architects takes over Wells Building downtown

By KALEA HALL

khall@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The terra cotta exterior on the Wells Building gleams in the sunlight.

The edges, fine details and beauty of the clay facade built in 1917 come to life.

There is life, too, inside the building at 201 W. Federal St. downtown.

Employees at Strollo Architects work on computers, sift through papers and discuss projects while surrounded by the energy that envelops downtown Youngstown.

This is the new Wells Building: A place where buildings come to life and where people can call home.

Its inhabitants are no longer pigeons, but architects and apartment renters with a penchant for city life.

“We are pretty confident this [firm] will continue,” said Gregg Strollo, president and principal of Strollo Architects. “We think this should be our last home. It’s not by accident that we took the first floor to show life down here.”

Strollo Architects was born 60 years ago on Rayen Avenue in Youngstown. The firm moved in the 1960s to Lincoln Avenue and then moved again into the Phar-Mor Centre on Federal Street.

Through his involvement to reinvigorate the city on various boards like the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., Strollo had knowledge of the Wells Building. In 2011, the architecture firm decided to enter a proposal to receive historical state and federal tax credits.

The plan was first to renovate the vacant Wells Building into office and retail spaces until Strollo realized that wasn’t what the market needed.

So, the proposal was amended for office and apartment space.

The Wells Building was originally a retail space and then it became an armed forces recruiting station.

“It was a home for pigeons for a long time,” said Kirk E. Kreuzwieser, vice president and principal for Strollo.

Strollo, the state and the city were all interested in the preservation of the building. The $5.3-million project received $1.8 million in state and federal historical tax credits. Strollo is authorized to receive up to $520,000 from the city through its water and wastewater funds.

“The cost of renovating an old building is very high,” Strollo said. “Without the tax credits there would be no project. We would also not have been able to do this without the city.”

With the tax credits, though, came requirements the firm had to follow to receive them. The terra cotta and historic windows had to be restored to their original form, for example.

“It’s a real gem in downtown Youngstown,” Kreuzwieser said of the building.

The renovation of the building took about a year. The five floors on the building were cleaned up.

Some things had to be demolished, while others were kept. Fifty percent of the windows were restored. An exposed steel beam in the ceiling of the main studio space with the company

“The Harr-Thayer Iron Co.” gives it an industrial feel and in pays homage to the steel city Youngstown was.

For the color, the architecture firm went back to the basics with red and yellow colors. They kept the office space open because architecture work is a team effort. The windows upon windows bring in natural lighting and add to the energy of the office. All together, the elements play up a contemporary style with a historical touch.

The Strollo offices were moved officially in about mid-December.

The second, third and fourth floors of the building each have four apartments in various sizes: six studios, four one-bedrooms, one two-bedroom and one three-bedroom. The apartments range from $1,050 for a studio to $1,600 for the penthouse suite. Five of the units have already been leased.

The rooms come with high ceilings and windows that start at the floor in the apartments — giving a vast view of downtown.

Other amenities of the apartments include: high-speed Internet, basement storage units and parking.

“It is on the tech block which we think will be a driver of the regional economy for a long time to come,” Strollo said.