Contract OK’d to build riverfront amphitheater, park downtown Youngstown

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The city’s board of control signed an $8 million contract to have Brock & Associates Builders Inc. construct the downtown amphitheater and riverfront park.

Brock of North Lima had the lowest of seven proposals for the project, Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works, said Thursday after the board approved the contract.

The company will start work – including the construction of three buildings – about June 1 with the goal of having it finished by summer 2019, he said.

Youngstown Amphitheater Update by David Skolnick

Video

Vindicator reporter David Skolnick talks about the soon to be built amphitheater in Youngstown.

“We’re excited to get it going,” Shasho said. “We’ll be even more excited when we get it opened. It’s going to be a lot of work. It’s going to require a lot of coordination and teamwork.”

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. “You’ll start to see more than just dirt” shortly.

The Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater and the riverfront park will be built on 12 acres along the Mahoning River from the South Avenue Bridge to just west of Hazel Street at the former Wean United site.

The amphitheater will be on property that includes the former Wean site on South Phelps Street. The Wean United building was demolished in 2014.

The Youngstown Foundation paid $3 million to the city for naming rights to the amphitheater, which will be able to hold up to 4,500 people.

Brown said he received a request from the Raymond John Wean Foundation to discuss possible naming rights for the park aspect of the project, but nothing has been finalized.

In addition to the naming rights, the city is borrowing $4 million from its federal Community Development Block Grant funds for the project to be paid over 20 years with an interest rate of 2.59 percent.

Also, the city plans to use water, sewer and environmental sanitation funds for the project, primarily to replace one of its largest and oldest sewer lines that runs through the park and amphitheater location. That project is expected to be finished in September.

MKSK of Columbus is the architectural firm designing plans for the amphitheater and riverfront park. It has partnered with MS Consultants of Youngstown on the work.