By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
The downtown building at 26 N. Phelps St. that houses Pig Iron Press was sold at sheriff’s auction Tuesday for $90,000.
Mike Naffah of Naffah Development, a real-estate development company based in Canfield, was the high bidder for the three-story building built in 1910.
Naffah said that he has not settled on a specific use for the building but that its development will be a joint venture with Dominic Marchionda, a downtown developer whose properties include the Erie Terminal apartment building.
Naffah’s holdings include the Ironwood Drive properties in Canfield Township, including the Hampton Inn, a small shopping plaza that includes Inner Circle Pizza, the soon-to-open Whitefire Grill, and the Inn at Ironwood, a retirement community.
The previous owner of the building was Jim Villani, who owed $6,238 in back taxes to American Tax Funding of Jupiter, Fla., which bought the lien from Mahoning County. But he made a payment of $5,000 just before the sheriff’s sale, bringing the unpaid balance to $1,328.
Villani bought the 6,500-square-foot building 20 years ago. He used it as the base of operations for Pig Iron Press, an independent publishing company that he started 40 years ago. Pig Iron has published 125 books in that span.
An instructor at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh and Stark State College in Canton, Villani also used the Pig Iron building to host gatherings of area writers and poets groups.
Also on the block at Tuesday’s sheriff’s sale was Villani’s home on Brookwood Drive in Boardman. The home received no bidders and will be available at the next sheriff’s sale March 19.
Villani said that he is considering exercising his right to redeem, a tenet of foreclosure law that would nullify the sale of the Pig Iron building if the unpaid tax bill is paid before the sale is confirmed.
He will first determine what his financial gain from the sheriff sale will be before deciding whether to exercise the option. Villani has had a series of fundraisers to pay the tax lien and has another one planned the first week of April.
In any event, Villani said he plans to keep Pig Iron Press alive, even if he has to find a new location.
Villani already had put the building up for sale prior to the sheriff’s sale. It was listed with Howard Hanna Realty with an asking price of $95,000.
Comments
Very odd circumstances all around in this story.
Someone must know someone... Take a look at the back taxes and liens. There's many over $1300 dollars and those properties aren't being yanked away from the owner. Typical Youngstown politics.
longrod,
Very simple: Location, location, location. Most of the properties with liens on them are not in a desirable location. Even the home on Brookwood in Boardman had no bidders. (Maybe Section 8 apartments nearby.)
Walter,
Agreed. But I still think that given Youngstown's typically awful bookkeeping..I find it odd that they yanked this property away from the owner with only $1300 being owed. Especially after the owner put down 5k towards the lien. I think there's another part of the story that doesn't appear in this article.
Very odd indeed since according to public record Marchionda owes more than that on his youngstown properties. Hmm.......
longrod,
Tax liens and the sheriff sale are totally controlled by county officials, not city of Youngstown officials. So, are you trying to tell me that something seems fishy with the way the county is handling this situation? My answer would be what Captain Louis Renault said to Rick Blaine in his Cafe Americain in Casablanca: "I am shocked - shocked - to find out that gambling is being permitted on these premises" while being presented his gambling winnings. My guess is someone has their eyes on that property and are pushing it.
What is really fishy is the fact that American Tax Funding apparently has the incredible sole contract to buy tax liens for pennies on the dollar, charge the delinquent taxpayer full price plus exorbitant interest of 18% per month. The law that permits this has to be the most oppressive law ever enacted by the State and one that is open to all kinds of abuses. Why don't the affected taxpayers join in a huge protest to their legislators and to Mike DeWine? I'd like to know how American Tax Funding got this monopoly. This situation has a really bad aroma to it.
ATF, is one of numerous private concerns which bids in bulk buying tax certs. Toledo sold their tax certs. in a similar case. It is the county back in 2005 which offered tax certs. on the national market.
Nothing is fishy about the subject auction. The taxes were not paid and the property was auctioned reaching $90K, almost as much as Villani listed the property for. A foreclosure can happen for $1 in debt unpaid. Perspective is that Villani only owed apprx. $6K and records show no other encumbrance, after reducing the debt by $5K, Villani can walk away with apprx. $89K cash not including court costs. In a way, he liquidated expediently and he didn't have the headache of waiting for a qualified buyer.
The real question, is why would an experienced real estate investor pay $90K when if I remember correctly, the Federal building sold for $150K? and the Stambaugh building sold for $50K awhile back. I guess the major energy companies coming in are scaring everyone to buy up the joint before the big dogs notice the bargain.