YOUNGSTOWN — The completion date for the remediation and partial demolition project at 20 Federal Place is being pushed from next month to February 2024 because of additional work needed at the city-owned building and a lawsuit from its last remaining tenant.

“We’re behind,” said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works. “We had some scheduling delays. We’re looking at a February completion.”

Daniel A. Terreri & Sons Inc., a Youngstown company, was awarded the contract for 20 Federal Place for $6.97 million in March with work starting a month later. The project was supposed to be finished in November.

The board of control Thursday agreed to add $78,666 to the Terreri contract because of the need to remove additional ceiling and floor tiles, Shasho said. The project’s cost is now $7.07 million.

“We expected it as we don’t have a precise unit price,” Shasho said. “It was an estimate. It needed to be adjusted.”

But that’s not what caused the delay, he said.

That is the result of a few other things: steel found concealed in the escalators at the building, the need to redesign the foundation, new walls needed in the basement as well as an ongoing lawsuit from Carrier Services Group, the building’s last remaining tenant, Shasho said.

Magistrate Dennis J. Sarisky of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled Aug. 23 that the city could evict Carrier from 20 Federal Place as long as it gives the company 30 days’ notice as required under its expired lease.

That notice was given after Sarisky’s decision, but Carrier has appealed the magistrate’s ruling.

Carrier is a technology company that has had water and falling debris damage its equipment at 20 Federal Place during the ongoing dispute.

Carrier’s wires and equipment are located by a three-story addition at the rear of the building on West Commerce Street that is being demolished as part of the project.

The city received a $6.96 million Ohio Brownfield Remediation grant, announced in June 2022, and is providing $2.32 million of its own money for the work at 20 Federal Place.

The remediation and partial demolition work needs to be finished by June 30 under the conditions of the state grant.

The city is using part of its money to pay MS Consultants Inc. for construction management as well architectural designs and costs related to seeking additional grants for the building. To date, the city has failed to receive additional funding for the structure at 20 W. Federal St. and has decided to not pursue grants.

There were 19 tenants, taking up about 20% of the 332,000-square-foot building, before eviction notices were sent in July 2022. Some of the tenants received extensions.

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

The city permitted Carrier to remain the longest of any of the tenants, but sought to evict it Jan. 3. The city filed a lawsuit in common pleas court on May 11 against Carrier.

It is uncertain what the city will do with the building after completion of the remediation and partial demolition project.

The city had sought a redeveloper for the downtown building and selected one, but let an agreement expire.

There is consideration to looking for developers again after the project is complete.

The last estimated cost of redeveloping the downtown building was $96.2 million with Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Law Director Jeff Limbian questioning earlier this year how that money could be raised and if a project of that magnitude is feasible. That estimate in January came from National Real Estate Development, a Philadelphia firm with a portfolio of $1 billion in properties that expressed “interest in pursuing an investment” at 20 Federal Place.

National Real Estate is no longer interested in the city project.

A year before that estimate, a consultant for the city said the project would cost about $60 million.

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.