Staff photo / Ed Runyan ... No work appeared to be happening Monday at the site of the Realty Tower explosion downtown.

YOUNGSTOWN — “I’m excited and happy that our residents of International Towers are back at home,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown told reporters Monday at a press conference at the Covelli Centre. The International Towers’ 170 residents were displaced after the Realty Tower next door exploded May 28.

And the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel on the other side of the now-demolished Realty Tower also is back open, “which is exciting for us,” he said. He also asked everyone to remember the loss of Chase Bank employee Akil Drake, who was killed in the explosion, and to remember the other bank employees who were injured.

Brown said he has a goal of “restoring our relationships” with the downtown businesses that have suffered through the road closures resulting from the Realty Tower explosion and infrastructure work.

“But we also want people to know that downtown is open for individuals to come and for the night life, the lunch specials and the events that are happening in our downtown,” the mayor said.

He said bid documents are out for work at Market and Federal Streets in the area of the explosion, “so that once the construction site is clear, we can reestablish that road again,” he said.

He said he expects the debris from the explosion site to begin moving out as soon as this week and for legislation to appear at Youngstown City Council to address the work needed on East Federal Street where the explosion did significant damage to the road.

He thanked all of the agencies that helped get the residents of the International Towers into temporary housing after they were forced to leave their homes and helped them get back into the International Towers recently when it reopened.

“I”m so proud of all of those agencies,” he said.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, thanked organizations such as “United Way, MYCAP, Red Cross, Catholic Charities, everybody who helped us lift this heavy load through this process and get back to the point where downtown is back open again.”

He asked people to “think about those nostalgic moments, those back-in-the-day moments, when you came downtown and you wanted to have a good time, and downtown was the place to be,” he said. “We want everybody to come down with their friends, their family from Oh Wow! to the Covelli Centre to the amphitheater to The Federal restaurant.”

Guy Coviello, president of the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber, said there is no “looking back — woe is us because of COVID, woe is us because of construction, woe of us because of demolition. We’re focused on a downtown that is open for business.”

He said there will soon be a “series of events that will drive people downtown, bring people from outside and support our retail establishments.”

He noted that Steelite International is “the first company in 68 years to move its corporate headquarters to Youngstown, and we think that creates a model to attract more (companies) to do the same.” He said efforts will be made to help downtown businesses replace the employees who took other jobs as a result of the fallout from the Realty explosion.

Bob Hannon, president of the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, pointed to about a half-dozen members of various community groups in attendance for helping residents of the International Towers when they were displaced from their homes and last week when they returned home.

Among the agencies were Catholic Charities Regional Agency, Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, Goodwill, the management of the International Towers apartments and the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership.

He said last week, volunteers from Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, Flying HIGH Inc. and Broadway Recovery Network helped move residents back into International Towers. YSU brought more than 30 students to help.

Hannon also credited the residents of International Towers for their good attitude.

“They may have had issues, but they didn’t come whining to us, complaining. Certainly they needed things. They didn’t come asking for anything outside of the usual that you would need — toiletries, food, clothing.”

He added, “In my time with United Way, this has probably been one of my proudest things we’ve been involved in.” All but about 19 of the residents have returned to International Towers. Some are still staying with family and friends, he said.

During a question session at the end, a reporter asked about a bill on the city council agenda for $259,000 for a company called Pro Quality Demolition, apparently for work associated with Realty Tower.

The mayor said the company “helped with the recovery effort for the young man,” the mayor said, apparently talking about the recovery of the body of Akil Drake late May 28. “We knew we needed some help, and his team came together.” He praised the company, “the time that they spent, how they were able to maneuver into that building.”

The company also was involved in setting up a trailer and fencing, “all of the pieces we didn’t have,” the mayor said. At a later time, the city’s “legal team will work that out with recovering our funding from the insurance company or whoever is responsible, but that was a safety issue.”

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