By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

City council authorized the board of control to enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to borrow $4 million for its downtown amphitheater project.

The $4 million federal loan is a key funding component of the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater project, estimated to cost $8 million to $8.5 million to build.

The loan must be repaid over 20 years with an interest rate of 2.59 percent.

Council voted in favor of the legislation to borrow the money Wednesday. The board of control will approve it shortly.

Construction of the amphitheater is on schedule to be finished and opened in June 2019, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.

In addition to the federal loan, the city received $3 million from the Youngstown Foundation for naming rights of the facility.

The rest of the money will come from other foundations, said interim Finance Director Kyle Miasek and Mayor Jamael Tito Brown.

“Other foundations are still at the table,” Brown said. “It’s a new entity, and it’s a question of structuring the right deals. Banks also have talked of long-term sponsorship deals.”

Because those negotiations aren’t finalized, Brown and Miasek declined to disclose the names of the other foundations.

The amphitheater and a riverfront park is being 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 facility will be able to hold up to 4,500 people.

“Right now, two of the [four] buildings are under construction with concrete blocks,” Shasho said. “Expect to see steel in the next few weeks. Most of the buildings’ work will be done by the spring.”

Brown added, “We’re looking at first acts to be booked. It may be hometown acts.”