Downtown Youngstown business to open its headquarters in February

By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Iron and String Life Enhancement Inc. will open its headquarters at 28-32 Fifth Ave. in February, its owner said.

ISLE purchased the vacant building in 2013 and has spent about $600,000 to $700,000 improving it, James Sutman, its owner and director, said Tuesday.

ISLE has used buildings in Youngstown and Boardman to house its administrative staff and will move those workers to the Fifth Avenue location, he said. There are about 30 to 40 employees who will be based out of the new location, he said.

ISLE provides job skills, daily-life skills and recreational activities for mentally and physically impaired people.

It received permission from the city’s Design Review Committee for the building’s exterior signs.

The committee also approved a request to replace all the windows from the second floor to the 13th – and top – floor of the Huntington Bank Building, 26 Market St.

There are 580 windows to be replaced, said architect Tracie Kaglic of Olsavsky Jaminet Architects Inc.

Also, the committee approved a sign for an art gallery that will be opening later this month at 8 N. Phelps St. in the Federal Building.

Gary Taneri said his paintings will hang at the location, called the Art Gallery, and he may show other people’s work there as well. The gallery would be open during the evening and weekends.