YOUNGSTOWN — Carrier Services Group, which was the last remaining tenant at the city-owned 20 Federal Place, added several parties — including the mayor and deputy director of public works — to its lawsuit seeking more than $500,000 in damages from Youngstown.

Maureen Sweeney, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge, on Dec. 6 upheld the Aug. 23 decision of Magistrate Dennis J. Sarisky that Youngstown could evict Carrier as long as it gave the company 30 days’ notice as required under its expired lease. The city said that eviction notice has since been given.

But the question of damages to the technology company remains.

Because the downtown building is undergoing a $7 million asbestos abatement and partial demolition project, the city removed and damaged Carrier’s fiber optic lines, computer servers and equipment when the company refused to remove them.

Seeking more than $500,000 in damages from the city, Carrier recently added a number of other parties to the lawsuit.

They are Mayor Jamael Tito Brown; Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works; MS Consultants Inc., the project’s manager; Daniel A. Terreri & Sons, the project’s contractor; and Jim Murray, the project’s engineer.

“Instead of attempting to properly terminate (Carrier’s) leasehold interest in the property, whether by negotiation or proper legal process, the city embarked on a purposeful, intentional and malicious plan to cause the removal of (Carrier) from the premises,” wrote Stephen J. Pruneski, Carrier’s attorney, in a court filing.

That includes, according to Pruneski’s filing, allowing construction debris to damage Carrier’s computer equipment, cutting the fiber optic line, cutting off the power supply to the premises causing Carrier’s equipment to operate on battery power until the batteries failed, destroying office walls and doors, and damaging and removing Carrier’s equipment.

City officials said the fiber optic line and the power were cut and Carrier didn’t notice either for about two weeks. It was more than a week after the equipment was moved to the traffic engineering building on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard before the company realized that occurred.

Sarisky denied Carrier’s request for a temporary restraining order to restore possession of its office at 20 Federal Place because the city didn’t violate the lease agreement and to have the company return to its space “is an impossibility” because it “no longer exists due to constructions and renovations by the city.”

Sarisky wrote Carrier’s “remedy is damages, at this point, for the destruction of the leased premises.”

A Dec. 20 hearing was canceled when Carrier added parties to the lawsuit. A Feb. 2 status hearing is scheduled.

Adam Buente, the city’s senior assistant law director, wrote in a court filing that Youngstown “disputes in the strongest possible terms” the claims filed by Carrier.

COURT RULING

Carrier hasn’t had a valid lease since Sept. 30, 2020, when an old contract expired, and the company failed to renew on a timely basis, Sarisky ruled Aug. 23.

“There is simply no evidence in the record that Carrier’s failure to timely renew its lease was induced by the city’s conduct,” he wrote in his decision.

Sarisky added: “The court finds that the lease was not properly renewed and therefore became a month-to-month tenancy.”

Sweeney agreed Dec. 6 with Sarisky’s ruling.

Pruneski argued the city accepted payments from the company for renewals for 2021 and 2022 and that Carrier paid yearly and not monthly for nine years.

Invoices for 2021, 2022 and 2023 were given to Carrier by Joyce Gorsky, who worked for the city as an independent contract assisting with 20 Federal Place tenants.

Sarisky agreed with city officials that only the three-member board of control can renew leases and that wasn’t done with Carrier.

It is similar to a situation the city had with a Subway sandwich shop franchisee that refused to leave 20 Federal Place contending it had a long-term lease there.

In the Subway case, the lease renewal was approved by Kevin Flinn, the city’s buildings and grounds commissioner.

Magistrate Timothy G. Welsh of common pleas court ruled Feb. 21, 2023, in favor of the city saying only the board of control signs and renews leases, but the city failed to give proper written notice of eviction under the expired contract.

The Subway owners appealed, and the city settled the lawsuit for $25,000.

The city filed the Carrier lawsuit May 11 after the company refused to leave.

Carrier was billed in December 2022 for rent for 2023 and its CEO wrote a check in January 2023 that wasn’t cashed by the city. He then wrote another check a few months later that also wasn’t cashed.

There were 19 tenants, taking up about 20% of the 332,000-square-foot building at 20 W. Federal St., 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, 2023.

The city received a $6.96 million Ohio Brownfield Remediation grant, announced June 2022, for the remediation and partial demolition at the downtown building. The work is scheduled to be finished next month.

The city provided $2.32 million of its own money for the project, largely for architectural designs, project management and costs related to trying to seek additional grants for the building.

Without the city’s knowledge, Desmone Architects, a Pittsburgh company that was initially leading the building’s redevelopment effort and has since been involved in project management, reapplied and received a $10 million state historic preservation tax credit for 20 Federal Place, announced Dec. 21. That also comes with $14 million in federal historic preservation tax credits.

Desmone’s application to the state stated an $82,137,690 project is planned at 20 Federal Place though no project has been finalized and a redeveloper hasn’t been found.

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