YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Land Bank and the Western Reserve Port Authority, with other partners, submitted requests to obtain $5.58 million in state funding for brownfield cleanup projects at 11 sites, including nine in Youngstown.

Of the 11 projects, eight of them are guaranteed funding as long as the Ohio Department of Development accepts the county’s proposal and that the plans meet the requirements, said Debora Flora, the land bank’s executive director. Each of the state’s 88 counties are guaranteed up to $1 million in funding from the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program as long as a qualifying need is met.

Three other projects, all in Youngstown, are vying for money from an $82 million competitive statewide program. Those projects require a 25% local match.

The projects are improvements to the Youngstown Flea building at 365 E. Boardman St., the former Silver’s Vogue Shop at 27 W. Federal St. and the site of the former McGuffey Mall on McGuffey Road at North Garland Avenue on the city’s East Side.

“We’re hopeful they will be successful because they are development projects,” Flora said. “They’re long overdue and we feel good about the application. It’s a great opportunity to push these forward and hopefully these will get funding. A lot of great things will happen if they’re completed.”

The request for Youngstown Flea is for $2.78 million for a $3.7 million project, Flora said. The funding would go towards asbestos removal from the windows and window encasements at the building.

“It’s a very delicate process to take care of windows,” Flora said. “We’re not attempting demolition. We’re doing remediation.”

The former industrial site, now home to makers and crafters, is also seeking $5.2 million from a $155.7 million application submitted last week to the state’s Appalachian Community Grant Program for 41 projects in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.

Youngstown Flea wants to use the Appalachian grant as part of a $12 million project for building redevelopment.

The request for the project at the former Silver’s is for a $1.24 million grant for a $1.65 million project.

Lena Esmail, CEO of QuickMed Urgent Care, purchased the former downtown clothes shop in 2021 for $460,000.

Esmail wants to make the building the headquarters of her company and open an urgent care facility there, Flora said. Esmail previously said she wanted to add commercial space and apartments there.

There are contaminants in the basement as well as water and electrical issues that need to be resolved at the building, Flora said.

“There might be very limited demolition work,” she said. “It is in need of remediation.”

That downtown building is also seeking $2.8 million from the Appalachian grant for redevelopment.

The former McGuffey Mall, owned by WRPA, is seeking $561,000 from the state for a $748,000 soil remediation project, Flora said. The soil is contaminated from chemicals used there years ago by two dry cleaners, she said.

The shopping center was vacant and deteriorated by 2007 and demolished in 2014. The WRPA purchased it last year for $162,000 with plans for redevelopment.

The projects getting money from the $1 million automatic allocation include $302,000 for the former South Field House at 1840 Erie St. to reimburse Youngstown for its assistance with the project related to planned asbestos remediation and demolition.

Valley Christian Schools is proposing to buy the long-closed field house from the city as well as build a $10 million athletic complex behind the former South High School. It’s to be done in two phases with the first costing $5.4 million and the second for $4.6 million.

Valley Christian hasn’t raised enough money for the project to start and the property remains in the city’s possession.

Also, $265,000 of the county’s automatic allocation would go towards the demolition of a former auto parts store at 1034 Wick Ave. in Youngstown.

The building needs to have hazardous chemicals removed as well as asbestos abated from a collapsed ceiling before it can be demolished, Flora said.

The building is across the street from a proposed city safety-serving building.

The six other projects are for testing for contamination and / or studies to determine the cost of remediation for future applications and come from the automatic allocation, Flora said.

The former West Elementary School site on North Hazelwood Avenue and the former Hayes Elementary School property at 1616 Ford Ave., both in Youngstown, would get $146,000 each while the former Adams Junior High School property at 2537 Cooper St. and former Princeton School site at 2546 Hillman St., both in Youngstown, would get $6,600 each.

The City Trust and Savings location at 3370 Wilson Ave. in Campbell would get $116,000 while the JSI Properties site, a former manufacturing building, at 221 W. Georgia Ave. in Sebring would get $11,000.

“It’s an aggressive application, but it’s important this community be aggressive to seek funding,” Anthony Trevena, WRPA executive director, said. “The goal is to put all the properties back into productive use.”

The land bank and WRPA applied for the state funding as soon as the process opened. Applications are being taken statewide until April 1, 2024, with an announcement expected in the middle of next year.

Partnering with the land bank and WRPA on the projects are the cities of Youngstown and Campbell, the village of Sebring, the Youngstown City School District and the Economic Action Group.

The county received $9,187,610 in June 2022 for three projects, most notably $6,962,250 for the abatement and partial demolition of Youngstown’s 20 Federal Place.