Warren Council considers transfer of 2 properties to port authority

Staff report

WARREN

Warren City Council gave first reading Wednesday to legislation authorizing the transfer of two more properties to the Western Reserve Port Authority’s Northeast Ohio Development and Finance Authority for potential redevelopment.

The biggest one is the 22-acre Deemer Park on Raider Path near the former Warren Western Reserve High School.

The park has a walking track and was once used by Warren City Schools when the Western Reserve building was used as a high school and later, a middle school.

But it is not used a great deal now, and someone has expressed an interest in possibly acquiring the property for redevelopment, said Mike Keys, Warren community development director.

The second property is a vacant residential lot at 2311 Niles Road someone has expressed an interest in acquiring.

If an entity or person does show a firm interest in buying the property, it would then be transferred to the port authority, Keys said.

An advantage of the port authority selling the property instead of the city is the port authority does not have to bid it out, which would make the sale more efficient and effective for the buyer, Keys said.

The port authority and city signed an agreement earlier to allow the mayor to transfer eight other properties to the authority in the event a firm offer to purchase them arose.

Among them was the former SCOPE senior citizens property on West Market Street, just west of Courthouse Square, that was sold to developer Mark Marvin and his Downtown Development Group.

Marvin is redeveloping the site into a winery that will take advantage of the views of the Mahoning River, Courthouse Square and the downtown amphitheater.