Staff photo / David Skolnick Moderalli Excavating works on taking down Realty Tower in downtown Youngstown. Most of the corner of the building is gone after a week of work. The demolition contractor said the goal is still to have enough of the building demolished by Aug. 2 to enable nearby buildings to reopen.

YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said he’s concerned about the progress of the Realty Tower demolition in downtown Youngstown, but he has been assured by the contractor and building owner that despite some setbacks, the effort is on schedule.

“I’m watching this thing every day, and I’m like that doesn’t look like a lot of progress,” Brown said Friday at a news conference at the Covelli Centre.

He added, “As a resident and as a mayor, I have a lot of questions and a lot of these questions I can’t answer the way that I like to.”

But Brown said he recently met with Gary Moderalli, head of Moderalli Excavating, which is demolishing Realty, and Brian Angelili, owner of YO Properties 47 LLC, which owns the building, and was told work is progressing. The Aug. 2 date to have the 13-story building down to four floors — which would allow nearby closed structures to reopen — should be met, he said.

“They believe they’re on target,” Brown said. “I can only tell you what they give me. I can’t say that without a doubt they are not getting there. I have faith in their word.”

Moderalli told The Vindicator on Friday that demolition “is taking longer than I thought it would,” but progress is being made and it’s “our intention to have it down to the fourth floor by Aug. 2.”

Moderalli said: “We have to do it safely. It’s going slow because of the (roof). It’s a foot thick. That might be 30 to 40% of our time. It’s going to go a lot quicker once the top is off. It’s steel. You wouldn’t believe how tough it is. It’s starting to make headway. If we don’t make the (Aug. 2) deadline, we’ll be awful close, but I expect to do it.”

A May 28 gas explosion caused significant damage to the downtown building on East Federal Street that had a Chase Bank branch on the ground floor and 23 apartments on the upper floors.

The explosion killed Akil Drake, a Chase worker, and injured nine others in the building.

Despite some wanting the building to be saved, YO Properties 47 said five structural engineers said Realty could potentially be stabilized, but its longevity could not be guaranteed or insured. The decision was made to demolish the building.

The plan is to have enough of the building demolished by Aug. 2 to permit the nearby Stambaugh Building – the home of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel – and International Towers to reopen.

Stambaugh was closed May 28, right after the explosion, because of its proximity to Realty Tower.

International Towers, which has about 170 tenants, was evacuated June 14, four days after Youngstown city officials got a structural engineering report stating all buildings within a 210-foot radius of Realty Tower should be closed because they’re in a “collapse zone.”

Moderalli said his crews are working 12 hours a day on Realty and it will increase shortly to 16 hours.

“By Monday, you’ll see a lot more down,” he said.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have staff at the demolition site monitoring everything being done by the contractor, Moderalli said. Also, the city hired MS Consultants Inc. to have an inspector at the site, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.

The Realty demolition has caused damage to a newly-built island on Market Street and the sidewalk around the building, Shasho said.

“We’re documenting everything, and we’ll address it when the work is done,” he said.

CONSTRUCTION ISSUES

Moderalli’s company moved large demolition equipment June 28 to the Realty site. Demolition started July 12 with the project expected to take four to six weeks.

A mechanical issue with the crane resulted in a delay as did getting water to the top of the building at the start of the project. An Ohio EPA spokeswoman said in buildings with asbestos that cannot be removed before demolition – such as Realty – debris needs to be kept wet to prevent asbestos particles from becoming airborne.

That’s also one of the reasons why Realty couldn’t be imploded and is being taken down using a 5,000-pound wrecking ball, Moderalli said.

Another issue, Moderalli said, is there’s a basement underneath the sidewalk in front of Realty so his equipment “has to sit back further.”

Brown said: “Some people tell me you don’t use that type of method. It’s an old method, and I asked them. I asked those questions of the contractor.”

He added: “It may be an old method. It may be a tried and true method. I don’t know.”

Brown said part of his “frustration is we probably look at this building to come down one particular way, and it’s going in a different direction,” and “every day, I’m scratching my head.”

Moderalli said the demolition is being done the safest and most efficient way possible.

“The way we’re doing it is the way it has to be done,” he said.

In a Friday statement, YO Properties and Live Youngstown Property Management LLC, which managed Realty, said of the recent meeting: “We all left satisfied with the progress. Safety will continue to dictate that progress and we remain optimistic about achieving the goal of demolition to the fourth floor by Aug. 2. That benchmark will allow residents to return to International Towers and for the hotel to reopen. As we have repeatedly stated, our goal is to restore order back to downtown with respect to the fluidity of demolition.”

Brown said: “I want to get my 173 people back home (to International Towers), I want to get my hotel open, I want to get my downtown open and moving again. We’re looking forward to that.”

A June 14 preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, stated a four-person scrap-removal crew, engaged by GreenHeart Companies of Boardman – also owned by Angelili – was working in a basement area underneath the building’s sidewalk removing old utility lines when a crew member sawed three times into a pipe mistakenly believing it to not have natural gas in it. That caused the explosion.

The city gave GreenHeart a no-bid $140,133 contract to remove utility lines from under the sidewalk in front of Realty and relocate them to its basement as part of a long-running downtown street improvement project.

DOWNTOWN

In an effort to get more people downtown, the city has removed parking meters and made on-street spots free, said Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, who represents downtown.

“We’re going to get new meters so we took out the old ones and made parking free,” he said. “I don’t know how long it will be like this. But any little thing we can try to do we’ll do.”

The city also plans shortly to make the city-owned, 114-space parking lot on Commerce and Phelps streets, behind 20 Federal Place, a place to park for free for about six months, Brown said.

“It provides some relief for those coming downtown,” he said.

Brown asked those working downtown to use the city-owned lot to allow customers of businesses to park for free on the street.

Downtown businesses have been hit hard since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, followed by the lengthy major street rehabilitation project and now the Realty explosion and its aftereffects, Brown said.

A planned waterline project on East Boardman Street likely will be delayed, Brown said.

“We don’t want more streets to close,” he said.

The west side of West Federal Street, closed for the street rehabilitation project, should reopen soon, Brown said.

While the $27.65 million street improvement project, which included $10.85 million in federal funding, will help downtown in the long run, Brown said if he knew about the tie-ups and then the impact of the Realty explosion, “I would have taken a different” approach.

Brown said the city, along the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber Foundation, are going to devise a strategic plan for downtown.

He said Friday he didn’t have details.

Guy Coviello, the chamber’s president and CEO, said the organization “welcomes this partnership with the city to reset the downtown onto a path toward economic prosperity. We’re encouraged by the passion of so many people and organizations rallying for downtown during this tough time. Our entire Valley has pulled together to overcome past challenges, and this will be no different.”

Coviello said this is the “beginning of a long-term partnership with the city and stakeholders to stimulate economic development in downtown Youngstown. It is critical that we continue to support these businesses.”

Have an interesting story? Contact David Skolnick by email at dskolnick@vindy.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @dskolnick.