YOUNGSTOWN — With the demolition of Realty Tower, the downtown building heavily damaged in a May 28 gas explosion, expected to start shortly, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration wants to make sure those entering or near the structure are safe.

OSHA representatives met Wednesday with city officials, the owner of the building, the company that will do the demolition, the National Transportation Safety Board and an attorney representing the family of Akil Drake, who died in the blast.

“OSHA wanted to make sure that stabilization, demolition, whatever, won’t affect the workers on site,” said Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, one of those attending the closed-door meeting.

Brian Angelili, whose company, YO Properties 47 LLC, owns the building, along with representatives from Modarelli Excavating, the company that will do the demolition, attended the meeting, Oliver said.

“A demolition plan is coming out Friday,” Oliver said.

Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said Angelili told him Tuesday that a plan would be submitted to the Mahoning County Building Department that day. It wasn’t.

Jeff Uroseva, the county’s chief building official, said he was told that a demolition permit would be sought Friday, and his department would review it Monday.

Oliver said OSHA representatives mentioned at Wednesday’s meeting that some unauthorized people were inside Realty Tower and that no one should be permitted in the building.

Oliver added that Angelili said no one is permitted inside the building because of the investigation into Drake’s death, but the attorney for Drake’s family said he wasn’t stopping anyone from going inside.

Shasho said Angelili told him that enough of the Realty Tower is expected to be demolished by Aug. 2 to allow the nearby International Towers and Stambaugh Building to reopen by that day.

Demolition won’t start until after the residents of the 23 apartments at Realty have an opportunity to have some of their personal items retrieved from the building, assuming that is possible. Demolition could start as soon as late next week, according to city officials at Wednesday’s meeting.

Large demolition equipment at the Realty site already is in place.

TENANTS

Tenants haven’t returned to the high-rise since the May 28 explosion.

An email sent to the tenants from LY Property Management LLC, which manages Realty, stated that an effort is being coordinated with fire Chief Barry Finley to have firefighters go into the heavily damaged building to get a few belongings.

“To respect your privacy and protect your personal safety, the exact protocol / procedure for retrieval will be determined by Chief Finley and will be presented to you when you arrive on site,” the letter reads. “We acknowledge the fluidity of this situation has created much uncertainty.”

It adds: “Our commitment to safely and securely retrieving your most valuable and irreplaceable items remains paramount; for that reason, you will not be permitted to retrieve the items yourselves.”

LY asked the tenants to catalog and prioritize the items by 5 p.m. Friday. The firefighters will go into the apartments and the items have to fit in a “small standard size carry-on suitcase, which we will provide” with dimensions of 22 inches by 14 inches by 9 inches, according to the LV email.

The firefighters will start retrieving items July 10, according to the email.

There was no word from the city or YO Properties on how firefighters would be allowed inside a building that is in imminent danger of collapsing and sustained significant damage in the explosion. Nothing has been done to Realty since the May 28 explosion to make it safer.

Tracey Winbush, a Realty tenant, said she hopes the firefighters will have cameras with them so tenants can tell them where to find their belongings.

“We have to try to think of where things are and have them fit in a shopping bag,” she said. “Trying to remember what you need, where it is and what can fit can be a little challenging. It’s the difference between what you want and what you need. What priority do you place on what will fit in a bag that is light enough for them to bring down?”

Winbush said she hoped this was not the last time the tenants would have an opportunity to retrieve items. But the LY letter states: “We will make one pass through each apartment.”

Oliver questioned the “logic of a firefighter going into the building without the tenants. I want to see if we can refine it to let people in so they can get more than a bag. It’s crazy.”

Also, the Stambaugh Building, site of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, has been closed since May 28. International Towers, which houses about 170 people, was evacuated June 14 after a structural engineering report four days earlier stated all buildings within a 210-foot radius of Realty had to be closed as they’re in a “collapse zone.”

The demolition permit is to be sought Friday, the deadline given by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown for YO Properties 47 LLC to take steps to demolish the building on East Federal Street or the city would take legal action.

Realty sustained extensive damage in the May 28 explosion, destroying much of the first floor, which was a Chase Bank branch. Drake, who worked at Chase, was killed while several other bank employees and building tenants were injured.

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 – which is 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.

Several downtown stakeholders have urged YO Properties to stabilize and save the 101-year-old historic building.

YO Properties and LY Property Management said in a statement last week that at least five structural engineering companies “have independently concluded that while the building could potentially be stabilized, its longevity could not be guaranteed or insured,” and that Realty would be demolished.

BUSINESS GRANTS

The city’s board of control on Wednesday authorized a $200,000 grant program to provide short-term assistance to businesses experiencing financial hardship because of the Realty explosion.

The Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber Foundation will act as the fiscal agent. City council authorized the board of control to sign the contract June 20.

Businesses are eligible for grants up to $10,000.

Downtown businesses have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, street improvement projects that have limited access for three years and now the Realty explosion that has closed off sections and forced the cancellation of events including the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest and — announced Wednesday — the Aug. 2 Y-Live concert featuring Tim McGraw. Past Y-Live concerts have attracted about 20,000 people to downtown. McGraw is rescheduled for next year.

“It is critical that we not only get our businesses back open, but plan for a successful future by creating and realizing a long-term strategic vision for a vibrant Youngstown,” Brown said.

The chamber foundation will be accepting donations from people and organizations for the effort.

Additional money from the city could be added to the fund in the future.

This effort includes seeking to recruit prospective businesses as well as retention and growth of current businesses, the promotion of events to help bring people back downtown and a housing strategy to increase residential options downtown.

“We want this to be the beginning of a long-term effort to stimulate economic development in downtown Youngstown,” said Guy Coviello, the chamber’s president and CEO.

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