BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Downtown bar open

YOUNGSTOWN

Whistle & Keg at the corner of Phelps and Federal streets downtown is open for business.

The newest bar downtown will open at noon every day. Closing hours vary.

Happy hour will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. with everything 15 percent off.

Customers receive a wristband that will give them access to 44 taps of beers and wines. Seven of the taps pour wine while the rest are beer with some of the taps featuring local brews. Customers tap their wristband on a digital screen above each tap to purchase. Customers pay per ounce.

A steam whistle from former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. outside of the bar will go off every day at noon, when the bar opens, and at 4 p.m., when happy hour starts.

State OKs grant

GIRARD

The State of Ohio Controlling Board approved at its meeting Monday a Fast Track Abandoned Gas Station Grant of up to $100,000 to fund the cleanup of an abandoned gas station site on South State Street. The former McQuaids station, which has been vacant, boarded and nonoperational for several years, was acquired by the Trumbull County Treasurer through foreclosure last year.

In partnership with the Trumbull County Treasurer’s Office, Trumbull County Land Bank and city of Girard, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber coordinated efforts to submit an application for the site to the Ohio Development Services Agency’s Abandoned Gas Station Grant Program.

Before the application, the site had received funding from the Ohio EPA’s Targeted Brownfields Assessment program to conduct assessments, making it eligible to receive cleanup funds from ODSA.

Ruby Tuesday deal

NEW YORK

Ruby Tuesday is being acquired for about $146 million in a deal that will take the struggling chain private.

The private-equity firm NRD Capital said Monday it will pay $2.40 for each share, a 21 percent premium from the chain’s closing price of $1.99 on Friday. When debt is included, the companies value the deal at $335 million.

Ruby Tuesday, which has about 600 restaurants, said in March that it was considering a buyout.

Staff/wire reports