Staff photo / Ed Runyan Demolition at the former Realty Tower should get the structure down to the fourth floor by this weekend, which will permit two nearby buildings to reopen, according to the building’s owner and management company. The demolition contractor said that goal should be reached Monday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Demolition of the Realty Tower will be completed to the fourth floor by this weekend, which will allow two nearby buildings — the Stambaugh Building and International Towers — to reopen, according to the building’s owner and management company.

But Gary Moderalli, owner of Moderalli Excavating, Realty’s demolition contractor, said he expects the work to be done Monday,

“We can’t rush that,” he said Wednesday. “We’re cutting the exterior stairs. We’ve been at it for two days. We’re at the hardest part. My intention is to get it down to four floors by Monday.”

YO Properties 47 LLC, the building’s owner, and LY Property Management Group, which managed Realty Tower, said in a statement Wednesday the plan is to get the former 13-story structure down to four floors Saturday or Sunday.

“It is not a benchmark we ever imagined announcing for Realty Tower, but we can confirm that the demolition process will be complete enough to allow for the safe return of residents, businesses and employees to their places of work and residence,” YO Properties and LY said in the joint statement.

The companies added, “Since the explosion, it has been a main focus of ours to do our part in restoring order downtown. We are optimistic about these next steps forward.”

The goal since demolition started July 12 has been to get Realty down to four stories to enable the nearby Stambaugh Building — home of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel and the Bistro 1907 restaurant — and International Towers — which has more than 170 tenants — to reopen.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said if Realty is down to four floors by the weekend, the hotel can open right away. Brown said Wednesday he is waiting to hear from Moderalli on the demolition status.

Fire “Chief (Barry) Finley will give the OK, and the hotel just turns on the lights,” Brown said once Realty is down to four floors. “The hotel can open that day. I’m sure it won’t be as fluid with access to the hotel. But you can do it from the parking lot.”

The statement from YO Properties and LY states the hotel can reopen as soon as Monday.

As for International Towers, if Realty is down to four floors this weekend, Brown said residents could move back in as soon as Monday. If it’s ready Monday, the residents could start returning the following day.

“The schedule is to have them return over a couple of days,” he said. “We’re very close. I’ll be excited when that happens. I’ll be happy for the residents and the hotel.”

A May 28 gas explosion caused significant damage to the 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 said five structural engineers said Realty could potentially be stabilized, but its longevity could not be guaranteed or insured. The decision was made June 17 to demolish the building on the city’s Central Square.

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

International Towers 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.”

REALTY FUTURE

YO Properties and LY said Wednesday, “It is with hope for the future that we remain committed to the Realty Tower site. We have every intention of continuing our legacy of paying homage to Youngstown’s history while moving it toward a vibrant future.”

As for the future of the Realty site on Central Square, YO Property and LY said, “The development of this site will be an extensive process. In the interim, the site will be leveled and will remain vacant as we begin the lengthy process of reimagining and planning a new project of this historic site.”

The initial deadline to demolish all but four floors was Aug. 5.

Moderalli said the building proved to be a challenge to demolish, and he wanted it down as safely and quickly as possible.

Moderalli’s company used a 90-ton, 190-foot-tall crane with a 5,000-pound horseshoe-shaped wrecking ball when demolition started July 12. But Moderalli said that piece of equipment “never broke” a beam.

Since July 31, Moderalli has used a rented crane that is 225 tons, 220 to 240 feet tall and has a 14,000-pound horseshoe-shaped wrecking ball. That sped up the demolition process, he said.

Moderalli’s crew was working Wednesday on taking down the building’s exterior staircase.

The entire building should be down a week after it gets down to the fourth floor, Moderalli said.

Moderalli said he will use 10 trucks a day — which can each hold 35 to 40 cubic yards — to haul the debris. The landfill permits two loads per truck per day.

Moderalli said he expects about 150 to 200 loads of debris. In addition, Moderalli said the Realty site has to be filled in with dirt.

The hauling and filling together should take two to three weeks, Moderalli said.

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 — owned by Brian Angelili, YO Properties 47 LLC’s managing member — 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. That was done because Angelili heads both companies and it was easier to have GreenHeart do the work than to hire someone else, Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, has said.

Shasho said he hopes the downtown street improvement project will be finished by November.

Because of damage caused by the explosion and the demolition to a section of Market Street, the city will seek proposals later this month for improvement work there, Shasho said.

Drake’s mother and sister, tenants at International Towers and former residents at Realty have filed lawsuits against YO Properties, LY, GreenHeart, Enbridge Gas Ohio LLC — the area’s natural gas company — and several of its sister companies.

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