Correspondent photo / Sean Barron A groundbreaking ceremony took place Wednesday for a new 1,400-square-foot home to be built in the 400 block of Whipple Avenue in Campbell.

CAMPBELL — Mayor George Levendis didn’t hesitate — nor did he need many words — to express his feelings regarding the sharp contrast between things being torn down in the city and something being built up.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said.

The source of Levendis’ jubilation was bearing witness to the first step in building a 1,400-square-foot, two-story home at 412 Whipple Ave., for which the Mahoning County Land Bank secured much of the funding. The address also was the site of a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday morning to usher in the project.

In addition, the work reflects a newly formed partnership between the city of about 8,000, the land bank and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., the mayor noted.

For several years, Levendis and other city officials — including the late Mayor Bryan K. Tedesco — have led the charge to raze many derelict Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. row houses. For years, most of those abandoned structures had been deemed uninhabitable, dangerous and contributors to blight, they have said.

A blighted home once occupied the Whipple Avenue site at which now sits a 12-foot hole mostly filled with cinder blocks as construction soon will get underway. The home will have three bedrooms, two baths, a porch and a detached double-car garage, which also will provide a good fit for the neighborhood, Ian Beniston, YNDC’s executive director, noted. The project will be for a homeowner, not a renter, he said, adding that the home could take four or five months to build, depending on weather.

Youngstown-based Joe Koch Construction Inc. was hired as the general contractor.

The ripple effects from the new residence will stretch far beyond the property on which it will sit, Levendis said.

“This project brings new life into Campbell’s neighborhoods at a time when many families are struggling to find affordable housing. This development helps meet that need directly,” the mayor said in his remarks Wednesday. “It strengthens our tax base, stabilizes our community and shows that Campbell is a place worth investing in.”

He also thanked Huntington Bank for providing $18,000 in down payment assistance that will help make homeownership easier for a buyer who otherwise might have been priced out of the increasingly expensive housing market.

In addition, the development ties into efforts to revitalize nearby 12th Street — something that “means more foot traffic, more demand for local businesses and a better quality of life for residents,” Levendis said.

Deb Flora, the land bank’s executive director, said that helping to make the project possible was the Welcome Home Ohio program, set up to offer grants to buy qualifying residential properties, along with construction and rehabilitation costs and, in some cases, a nonrefundable tax credit. The Ohio Department of Development administers the program.

WHO awarded $7.3 million in grants for 31 local projects — 25 new construction ones and six renovations, most of which are in Youngstown but spread throughout the county, Flora noted.

Also, the Whipple Avenue home will be built during a housing shortage in Mahoning County — especially housing “that doesn’t break the bank,” she said, adding that, in compliance with state law, the new home will not exceed $180,000.

Besides brick, mortar and a foundation soon to be built, making the development possible are strong, vibrant partnerships the city has established, Levendis said.

“What’s powerful about this project is the teamwork behind it; the land bank, YNDC, the city and the state, we all came together with a shared purpose to expand access to housing,” he added. “It shows what’s possible when everyone grows in the same direction, and it sets the stage for more partnerships like this to come.”