Staff photo / Dan Pompili .... Behind the Pilot truck stop on Market Street in North Lima, Southern Tire Mart is expected to construct a new facility to serve semis and regular passenger vehicles. The township recently approved a revised proposal for a larger building, expanding it from 12,000 square feet to 32,000 square feet.

NORTH LIMA — Progress is being made along the Market Street corridor in the township, with one old building down and a new one elsewhere making its way through the planning process.

Zoning Inspector Lindy Mitchell said on Thursday that the dilapidated former Penn-Ohio truck stop building was demolished at the owner’s cost, starting July 9. The demolition is complete, she said.

The property is owned by Surinder Cheema, DBA Lucky Enterprises of Ohio, based in Hudson, New York. Cheema said in December that the truck stop closed some time during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened. The air-conditioning unit was ripped off the top of the building during a windstorm in 2022, and the roof eventually caved in.

The property remained a nuisance and a source of discussion in the township’s offices and among residents and business owners in town.

Mitchell said she hopes this is the start of a new chapter.

“The last time we spoke to his attorney, he stated that [Cheema] had someone looking at the property again, so hopefully he has a good buyer,” she said. “We’re hoping he has someone that wants to put something in there.”

But Cheema said Thursday that while he is trying, he has not secured a buyer yet.

“I’m just trying to clean up the property and then I can sell it,” he said. “We’re working with a couple of parties.”

If the property is not sold, he intends to redevelop it, but has no certain plans yet.

In December, Mitchell said the property constituted a legal nuisance and her office had referred the matter to the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office and the township also was working with the Mahoning County Health Department to address the issue.

On Thursday, she said those cases had been closed, given that Cheema moved forward with the demolition at his own expense.

The property is zoned for general commercial usage, so as long as Cheema or the next owner present a valid plan for that purpose, Mitchell said the township will be happy to see what comes next. Cheema said in December that he expects it will be a new truck stop.

Trustee Erik Tabior said he’s thrilled with the progress.

“Its taken us a long time to get to this point, years,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to go in there yet. A few larger gas stations have called about the property.”

Just down the road, behind the Pilot truck stop, Southern Tire Mart is expected to build a new facility. Mitchell said Southern has multiple other tire shops at Pilot locations.

She said the township just approved a revised request for the prospective new business. The plans, as of December, were for a 12,000-square-foot building. Mitchell said the newly approved specs are for a 32,000-foot facility.

“It was just going to be for semis, but with this one they will include passenger vehicles as well,” she said.

Mitchell said the progress on the project has not changed much since the winter. Even with the approval of the new specs, the project still needs to go through the county engineer’s office, soil and water district and local fire department approval before a permit can be issued and work begin.

A representative of Kimley-Horn, the engineering firm handling the project, said he is not in a position to comment on the plans now.

Beaver Township Trustee Erik Tabor said there are other exciting updates along the corridor as well.

He said Columbiana-based Trailer America plans to take down some buildings around the Davis Motel — between the former Tiffany Dolls strip club and Pilot — though he is not certain what they will put there.

South of West Middletown Road, Tabor said, Kevin Price, DBA KDC Properties, will be building 50 to 56 multi-family rental condo units on the former Elser property.

“We have already approved all of that, but I’m not sure if Mahoning County has finished with it yet,” Tabor said.

He said Tom Paranzino is remodeling the former Fortune Patio building into a motorcycle shop, and last he heard the former Tiffany’s site will be an indoor storage facility.

Ben Dickey, owner of the Tiffany’s building, also said as much in December. For now, he said, he just hasn’t had the means to take on the full project.

“We just haven’t pulled the trigger on it to spend the money yet,” he said, although they have made considerable improvements to the exterior of the building. “We’re coming along pretty good, we’ve got it drawn up and I think we’ve got the approval.”

The former Penn-Ohio site is next to his property, and Dickey is equally happy with the improvement there.

“It looks a million times better over there now,” he said.