By David Skolnick (Contact)
Monday, June 2, 2008
YSU and Stambaugh Auditorium oppose the project.
YOUNGSTOWN — A major collegiate residency development company wants to demolish dilapidated and vacant structures that front Fifth Avenue and build a 109-unit, $17 million housing project.
The project, proposed by Place Properties of Atlanta, would be marketed toward and designed for Youngstown State University students and medical residents at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
“A reputable company investing $17 million in Youngstown sounds outstanding to me,” said William D’Avignon, the city’s community development agency director, who oversees its planning department.
But YSU strongly opposes the proposal because, YSU officials say, say its location poses a danger for students and Place Properties has declined to work with the university, said Hunter Morrison, the university’s executive director of the office of campus planning and community partnerships.
“We expect developers of student housing to work with us,” he said. “... They didn’t bother to see how their plan fits with ours.”
Also, the location “puts students at risk,” Morrison said.
If built, the project, to be called Park Place, would be on the city’s North Side on Fifth Avenue, between Westbound Service Road and Park Avenue, and next to the Stambaugh Auditorium.
YSU opposes building there “for the perceived safety of the neighborhood and the physical safety of students walking back and forth” between the university and Park Place, Morrison said.
To get to and from YSU and the housing project location would require students to walk on Fifth Avenue and cross U.S. Route 422 on a thin walkway, Morrison said. If there is snow on the ground, students would have to walk on the street rather than the small walkway, he said.
“It’s an unacceptable location,” Morrison said.
Repeated attempts to contact Stephen L. Freeman, Place Properties’ senior development manager and the point of contract for Park Place, were unsuccessful.
YSU works with private developers for student housing complexes that make sense for those attending the university, Morrison said. An example, he said, is USA Parking Systems, a Cleveland company owned by Louis A. Frangos, that plans to renovate the Erie Terminal on Commerce Street, near YSU.
In a letter to Youngstown City Council members, Freeman touts the project and his company, which developed, financed and manages over 15,000 beds of student housing.
He also wrote that the company is seeking a property tax abatement before it begins construction. Approval by council is required for the tax abatement, Freeman wrote.
Place Properties is seeking a 75-percent, 10-year real property tax abatement from the city, D’Avignon said.
If approved, the project would start construction in the fall, D’Avignon said.
The proposal was initially in front of the city’s board of zoning appeals because it didn’t have enough parking f or the size of the project under the Youngstown housing code, D’Avignon said.
But the company has an option to buy a property on Ford Avenue, just west of the proposed Park Place. That property would be used for 148 parking spots.
The proposed Park Place property included 154 spaces. City code requires the project — that has 374 beds divided into 78 four-bedroom units and 31 two-bedroom units — to have 198 parking spaces. There would be 302 spaces if the company purchased the other parcel.
If the project proceeds and Place Properties buys both parcels, it wouldn’t need a variance for parking, D’Avignon said.
William Conti, president of Stambaugh Auditorium, said his board of trustees opposes the student housing complex because it isn’t a good fit for the area, it will “drastically increase an already serious parking problem” for Stambaugh, and the four-story structure would make it hard for those driving north to Stambaugh to see the auditorium.
Stambaugh has a deal with the current property owner to park 85 vehicles at the rear of the land.
Not only would Stambaugh lose those spots, but Conti expects residents of Park Place to park on the street causing further complications.
D’Avignon said Place Properties has a tentative deal to buy the parcel where Park Place is to be built for $1.2 million from Select Specialty Hospital. The latter purchased the property about two years ago for more than $2 million.
Select Specialty had planned to build a 56-bed long-term acute-care facility on the parcel. The company had a facility at St. Elizabeth, but Medicare regulations require such facilities to be at least 750 feet from short-term, acute-care hospitals.
When St. Elizabeth started building a medical campus in Boardman, Select Specialty decided to open there, leaving boarded-up vacant houses at the Fifth Avenue site.
If the Place Properties deal falls through, D’Avignon said the city will take legal action against Select Specialty to clean up the Fifth Avenue property.
skolnick@vindy.com