YOUNGSTOWN — Carrier Services Group, the last remaining tenant at the city-owned 20 Federal Place, won’t comply with an eviction notice — so Youngstown plans to seek a court order to remove the company.

“They’ve become intransigent,” city Law Director Jeff Limbian said. “It’s been a battle. They’re unwilling to leave.”

Carrier Services Group has fiber optic wires and equipment at the building.

The city filed a three-day eviction notice for Carrier to move its equipment from 20 Federal Place, which began a $6.9 million remediation and partial demolition project April 17.

Carrier had been told it could keep its equipment at the building during the project, but Limbian said: “It’s too dangerous in the building for their equipment. The equipment is in the way of where the demolition work is going to be done.”

Portions of Carrier’s wires are located at the rear of the building on West Commerce Street, where a three-story addition to the original building is being demolished.

Because Carrier refuses to leave, the city will “ask the court to order them to be removed,” Limbian said.

Carrier has fiber optic wires and equipment on the downtown building’s roof, first floor and in the basement.

Stephen J. Pruneski, Carrier’s attorney, said the city agreed to a one-year lease for the company for 2023, and the company sent a check for the entire year. The check was never cashed and returned about four months later to Carrier, he said.

“We received no response from the city and all of a sudden they evicted them,” Pruneski said. “We’ve tried to work with them and said we could move the stuff to the basement for relocation.”

Carrier wants $10,000 from the city to move its equipment to the basement, Pruneski said, but the city isn’t agreeable.

“It’s easier to move out of their way and into the basement when new fiber elsewhere would be five, six times the cost,” he said. “They’re taking our property when we have a valid lease. They can’t evict when there is a valid lease. My client is not trying to be a bad citizen or cause a problem. They made a substantial investment because they had a lease and the city is saying to leave.”

Pruneski added: “It’s just not fair. We’re trying to work something out, but they want to evict us.”

SUBWAY SETTLED

The city last month settled a lawsuit for $25,000 that was filed by the owner of a Subway sandwich shop that fought eviction from 20 Federal Place in court.

The city’s board of control today is expected to vote to finalize the settlement with Gayatri Management Corp., the Subway franchisee, and its owner, Chhaya Joshi of Canfield.

Gayatri filed a lawsuit in September 2022 to stop its eviction. In July, the company wanted $645,000 to leave 20 Federal Place. The city rejected that request.

Magistrate Timothy G. Welsh of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled Feb. 21 in favor of the city.

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

But Welsh determined the city’s three-day notice to vacate Sept. 23 — after sending eviction letters July 7 to all tenants at 20 Federal Place giving them either 30 or 60 days to vacate — was improper because the city collected rent from Subway in September and October. That led to the city filing the eviction notice that was effective March 31.

The business then filed an appeal, but offered to settle the matter for $67,831, leave the city building and dismiss the case. The city rejected the offer, but agreed May 8 to the $25,000 settlement.

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

Many of the former 20 Federal Place tenants found other locations while some went out of business.

BUILDING FIX-UP

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

What the city will do with the building after the remediation and partial demolition project is finished is far from certain.

The city wants to find a redeveloper for the downtown building and is seeking state and federal tax credits to assist a company that would be selected for that project.

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 many decades.

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