YOUNGSTOWN — The owner of a Subway sandwich shop objects to a magistrate’s decision to permit the city to evict the business from 20 Federal Place.

Now, the March 31 eviction notice is on hold.

Robert T. Buch — an attorney representing Gayatri Management Corp., the Subway franchisee, and its owner, Chhaya Joshi of Canfield — filed the objection in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to the Feb. 21 decision by Magistrate Timothy G. Welsh in favor of the city.

While stating reasons for the objection, Buch also requested he be permitted to file a supplemental objection after receiving a copy of the transcript of the Dec. 13 hearing in front of Welsh “to specifically cite to portions of the transcript.”

The magistrate’s ruling is being appealed to Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.

After Welsh’s ruling, the city posted a new eviction notice and gave Subway until the end of this month to leave 20 Federal Place, which will undergo a remediation and partial demolition project in the near future.

But because of the objection, the March 31 eviction notice is on hold, city Law Director Jeff Limbian said.

“In terms of the eviction being delayed, we’re waiting for the judge’s analysis of the magistrate’s decision to determine if any eviction action is necessary,” he said. “Based on the ruling, we’re prepared to take further action so Subway doesn’t delay the remediation any longer.”

LEASE DISPUTE

Welsh ruled that the restaurant owners didn’t have a valid long-term lease at the downtown building and that it was there on a month-to-month basis.

But Welsh determined the city’s three-day notice to vacate on Sept. 23 — after sending 30-day eviction letters July 7 to all tenants at 20 Federal Place — was improper because the city collected rent from Subway in September and October. That led to the city filing the eviction notice that is currently no longer in effect because of the objection.

Also after the ruling, Buch sent a letter to the city stating his clients were willing to settle the matter for $67,831, leave the city building and dismiss the case. The city rejected the offer.

In the objection filing, Buch wrote that he disagreed with Welsh’s decision that a one-year lease agreement with a five-year option signed in September 2020 by Kevin Flinn, the city’s buildings and grounds commissioner, wasn’t valid. In September 2021, a Subway leasing representative told the city it wanted to exercise the five-year option.

Welsh ruled that for the lease and the options to be legal, state law requires at least two-thirds of city council to have approved them and the city charter requires the board of control to execute all contracts. Neither occurred — making the deal between Subway and Flinn invalid, he wrote.

In his objection, Buch wrote that “the city adopted the terms of the (contract) by ignoring their own ordinances and charters until they received the grant monies to renovate the premises.”

Also, Joshi made improvements to her business only after receiving the contract from Flinn, Buch wrote.

“Otherwise, said improvements were not practical or financially sound under a month-to-month tenancy,” he wrote.

The city continued to collect rent under the contract and Joshi never received any notice from the city that the contract was improper, Buch wrote.

The only other tenant currently remaining at 20 Federal Place is Carrier Services Group, which is storing some equipment there.

BUILDING EMPTIED

With 20 Federal Place essentially empty, there’s been a significant decline in foot traffic there.

There were 19 tenants, taking up about 20 percent of the 332,000-square-foot building, before the eviction notices were sent.

The city received a $6.96 million Ohio Brownfield Remediation grant, announced last June, and is providing $2.32 million of its own money for the work at 20 Federal Place. The city is using part of its money for architectural designs, project management and costs related to seeking additional grants for the building.

The city opened proposals on Feb. 3 for the work with the apparent low bid coming from Daniel A. Terreri & Sons Inc., a Youngstown company. Its base bid was $6,418,561. With four additional options for the project, the cost increased to $7,854,561.

The city’s estimate was $7,412,000 for the work under the base bid and increased to $9.17 million with the four additions.

There is a hold up with awarding the contract because of the cost of two of the additional options related to the demolition of two parts of the building.

The future of the building after this work is done is uncertain.

The last estimated cost of redeveloping the downtown building was $96.2 million with Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Limbian questioning how that money could be raised and if a project of that magnitude is feasible.

The city purchased the building in November 2004 after Phar-Mor, a national retail store company, went out of business. The property was the Phar-Mor Centre, the company’s corporate headquarters. Before that, it was the flagship location of Strouss’ department store for several decades.

The city has unsuccessfully tried to sell the building in the past.

dskolnick@vindy.com