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Youngstown council OKs purchase of closed St. Vincent DePaul hall
YOUNGSTOWN
City council approved legislation to have the board of control spend $79,000 to buy the closed St. Vincent DePaul Society dining hall for a development project.
The city will have the money reimbursed shortly after it spends it by one of two potential buyers, said Finance Director David Bozanich. He declined to disclose the names of the two interested parties because negotiations are ongoing.
But Bozanich said one company is interested in spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars and make it an entertainment venue.”
The other potential buyer would reimburse the $79,000 and have the property remain in the city’s possession for beautification purposes, Bozanich said.
A decision on which proposal will be accepted is expected shortly, he said.
The $79,000 figure is the appraised value of the building, Bozanich said.
The location at 208 W. Front St. is near the downtown amphitheater project site.
Council approved the ordinance Wednesday.
It’s likely that whatever is done with the building, it would be improved rather than demolished, Bozanich said.
The former dining hall, which St. Vincent operated since the mid-1980s, served its last meals June 30. The building was then closed after the Mahoning County Building Inspection Department found it to be unsafe.
An employee complaint prompted a June 23 safety-hazard inspection that found a collapsed ceiling above a second-floor office, rotting floor under compartment sinks on the first floor and rotting floor-joist tails in the basement.
The cost to fix the issues at the old building was too expensive, according to society officials, and the dining hall was relocated in August to the fellowship hall of Sts. Cyril & Methodius Church, 252 E. Wood St.
The city is spending $8 million to $9 million to construct an amphitheater and park along the Mahoning River from the South Avenue Bridge to just west of Hazel Street at the former Wean United Building.