YOUNGSTOWN — The city received a single response to a request for proposals for the purchase and redevelopment of its 20 Federal Place building downtown.

Bluelofts Inc., a Dallas, Texas, company, was the lone respondent to the city’s request, said Doug Rasmussen, CEO and managing principal of Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners, a St. Louis, Missouri, firm assisting the city.

Rasmussen said his company and city officials will meet next week to review the proposal and “see what information we want and go from there.”

Rasmussen said he wasn’t disappointed with only one response.

“We were expecting one to four proposals,” he said. “Several groups took a deep look at it.”

The deadline to submit proposals was Monday. Even though the request for proposals package said the search could continue after the deadline, Rasmussen said Wednesday, “I consider it closed.”

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said of Bluelofts, “If that’s the right proposal, that’s fine. I’m excited we got somebody.”

Stephanie Gilchrist, the city’s economic development director, said, “I’m glad we got at least a proposal and excited to see what we can do with this company and make our visions match. Hopefully it will be a successful relationship.”

Bluelofts, founded in 2018, focuses on “converting empty office buildings into much-needed housing. By increasing the availability of housing, our team is dedicated to making a bigger impact on the environment and struggling urban communities,” according to its website.

Bluelofts has purchased commercial buildings in Cleveland; Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia; with plans to convert them to residential space.

An entity co-owned by Bluelofts is working on developing the former Ohio Bell headquarters, now called The Bell, in Cleveland. The 500,000-square-foot location has been vacant since 2019 with plans to convert it into apartments.

Rasmussen said: “We haven’t looked at the proposal deeply yet. They’ve done work in other cities as far as similar projects. They’re experienced. We’re excited to look at it, analyze it and take it to the next step.”

Gilchrist said Bluelofts has “a very interesting and inviting portfolio. I’m looking forward to interacting and learning a little more about their vision.”

A contractor for the city recently finished a $7.4 million asbestos remediation and partial demolition project at the downtown building at 20 W. Federal Street. The city received a $6.9 million state grant for the work.

Also, Desmone Architects, a Pittsburgh firm helping the city with the building, received a $10 million state historic preservation tax credit, announced Dec. 21, for the building. That credit also comes with a $14 million federal historic preservation tax credit.

The review of Bluelofts’ proposal and interviews will be this month and October.

The plan is for city council to hear Bluelofts’ proposal and select a redeveloper by the end of November.

The city received two proposals to buy and redevelop the building in June 2021 with Downtown Development Group in Warren, the only company that submitted a timely proposal, withdrawing from consideration a month later after expressing concerns about too many unknowns and management of the building.

That left Desmone Architects, which submitted a proposal after the initial deadline, as the only firm interested in the project.

A Desmone umbrella organization, 20 Federal Place LLC, has a 40-year lease on the building, but there are benchmarks that must be achieved or the city can rescind the lease.

Under historic tax credit rules, a government entity, like Youngstown, isn’t eligible for those dollars and must be awarded to a private group.

Desmone’s application to the state lists an $82.1 million project for 20 Federal Place though no project has been finalized with a redeveloper being sought.

Asked Wednesday about Desmone’s involvement in the redevelopment, Rasmussen said: “Their ongoing role is to be determined. They have the tax credits. I need to look further into the proposal to see what will be done.”

Gilchrist said of Desmone’s future with the 20 Federal Place project, “That’s a discussion we have to have. We still need to have that conversation.”

The city purchased the downtown building at 20 W. Federal St. 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, the 332,000-square-foot building was the flagship location of Strouss’ department store for many decades.

There were 19 tenants, taking up about 20% of the 332,000-square-foot building before eviction notices were sent in July 2022.