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Coffee and tea company set to move to Youngstown

YOUNGSTOWN — Voyager Specialty Coffee and Teas, a Canfield-based coffee and tea wholesaler, plans to invest $250,000 to acquire and renovate a former auto parts shop in Youngstown to relocate its production line and distribution center.

The company is completing financing to buy the former Dave’s Auto Parts building, 1588 Mahoning Ave., and another parcel next door at 1586 because it has reached capacity at its modest 1,000-square-foot Leffingwell Road facility.

The new location provides Voyager about 4,300 square feet at 1586 Mahoning Ave. that head roaster Levi Smith said will be converted into a roasting floor and office space. The other site is about 1,900 square feet.

“Our goal is to build a space that fits our needs and the unique products we are producing,” Smith said Wednesday.

Other space at the site could become a cafe, ice cream parlor or something else family-related, “another fun space to go in Youngstown,” Smith said. The vision for the back lots is community green space, perhaps with a small stage and sitting area.

“There are a lot of different concepts going on right now,” said Smith, who wants the site ready for production within the next 12 months.

The Western Reserve Port Authority on Tuesday agreed to sell 1.4 acres of the 1.65-acre site and the buildings to Voyager for $110,000. It had acquired the property in 2020 from the Mahoning County Land Bank and had been working to find a fit for the land and buildings. The land bank acquired the property in 2011.

Smith, a consultant with the Ohio Small Business Development Center at Youngstown State University, said he worked with Economic Action Group and its co-founder and executive director, Nick Chretien, to identify the site.

The two knew each other through their economic development work.

“When we got to the place where we were saying there is no ceiling for us to bust through here in Canfield that will let us grow more … it was a knee-jerk for me to call Nick and to what was available,” Smith said.

Said Chretien: “Many buildings in the city of Youngstown are on the brink if they can be reutilized or not. One of these buildings was one of those (and) the other was probably a little bit more stable, but working through the process it was tangled up. The bank had $125,000 worth of liens on the property, there were tax liens on the property … so we started to untangle that process.”

PNC agreed to erase the liens in exchange for the owner agreeing to sign over the property, said Anthony Trevena, chief operating officer for the port authority, which had environmental testing and cleanout done at the site and buildings. The port authority also had new roofs installed.

The cost of the work was factored into the sale price, Trevena said.

“We’re very excited about the potential of this property … it’s a special property, 1.64-acres in downtown Youngstown on Mahoning Avenue (and) such a great client to have there that can offer something to the community,” Trevena said.

The port authority also agreed to give the remaining land to a neighbor, Melodee Titus, on Mahoning Avenue who had cut the grass for several years.

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