YOUNGSTOWN — Even though the redevelopment proposal for the downtown 20 Federal Place building died before it got started, the city still owes money to a law firm that did work on the failed project.

City council is being asked to vote Wednesday to increase the initial $25,000 payment to Bricker Graydon LLP’s Cleveland law office to $49,500.

The board of control on April 24 agreed to pay the law firm up to $25,000, which is the most it can spend without council’s approval. But because the work on a failed public-private partnership (P3) financial structure for the building was detailed, the law firm’s expenses almost doubled.

“We needed them to review the P3 documents and make sure everything was accurate,” said city Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

The law firm’s services for 20 Federal Place are no longer needed, but it is still owed money, Miasek said.

City officials announced Aug. 12 that it ended its relationship with Bluelofts Inc., a Dallas company, to potentially redevelop 20 Federal Place and that $24 million in state and federal historic tax credits for the downtown building wouldn’t be used. The tax credits, $10 million from the state and $14 million from the federal government, were awarded Dec. 21, 2023.

Bluelofts said it was going to work with Madrone Community Development Foundation of Berkeley, California, which would have owned the building through a nonprofit charitable organization. But the historic tax credits couldn’t be used with the P3 financial structure.

Bluelofts then shifted from largely affordable / workplace housing to student housing and asked the city to serve as a “backstop” on funding, Miasek said. That could have made the city liable for up to $4.5 million annually for 30 years if the project’s expenses and debt service weren’t met.

This was the second failed effort to redevelop the building at 20 W. Federal St. in the past three years.

The city purchased 20 Federal Place 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 building, before eviction notices were sent in July 2022. Some tenants were given an extension before leaving, but it’s been vacant for almost three years.

Because the building was lacking tenants, it cost the city about $400,000 annually to operate 20 Federal Place when it was open, Miasek said. Now, the only costs are electricity and fire suppression.

A city-hired contractor finished a $7.4 million asbestos abatement remediation and partial demolition project last year — after lengthy delays — at the building. The city received a $6.9 million state grant for the work. The city spent about $1.6 million to make up the difference in the project as well as to hire various contractors and consultants for the building.

The nine-story building in the heart of downtown remains unoccupied with the city unsure when or how it can find a company to redevelop it.

SPEED CAMERA MONEY

City council on Wednesday also will consider spending $30,000 of the money it’s collected from fees paid by those caught speeding by unstaffed cameras in school zones. The money would go to Blue Line Solutions, the Chattanooga, Tennessee, company that runs the camera program, for improvements and maintenance to the school zone flasher units and signs.

While the city has received $1,841,809 from those paying the fines when the program operated in 2023 and during the 2024-25 school year, this is only the second purchase made by the city from that pot of money.

The only other purchase from that fund was $51,522, also to Blue Line in December to buy a surveillance trailer with two cameras.

The city’s inability to use the money is primarily because state law heavily restricts the spending of fines from unstaffed speed cameras in school zones. Youngstown can spend the citation collections for only what is considered school safety resources, such as improvements to school zones as well as crosswalks, lighting and safety measures near those buildings.

The speed cameras in 21 school zones in Youngstown were turned on again Aug. 26.

The city gets 65% of the citation fees with Blue Line keeping the remaining 35%.

In total, $2,833,552 in citations were paid by those caught by the cameras speeding in school zones. Blue Line kept $991,743 without any restrictions on how it is spent.

Motorists caught going at least 11 mph over the speed limit and up to 14 mph over it face a civil penalty of $100. Those going 15 to 20 mph over the limit face a $125 penalty and those traveling faster than 20 mph over the limit face a $150 penalty. They do not get points on their driving record for the citations.

Because they are citations, there is nothing the city can do to enforce collections. Blue Line could turn over the unpaid citations to a collection agency, but that is highly unlikely.

The collection rate for those issued citations in school zones on the cameras is about 40%.

BRIDGE WORK

City council will consider legislation Wednesday to permit the board of control to increase the cost of entering into a construction engineering contract with the company deemed the most qualified consultant from $170,000 to up to $225,000 to rehabilitate a small bridge on South Avenue.

The increased expense is for work to design the relocation of a gas line and because of rising costs, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works. The $170,000 amount was approved March 19 by city council.

When bids for the work were opened April 25, the low bid of $1,695,258 from Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown was $60,026 more than the engineer’s estimate.

The gas line relocation forced the city to delay the start of the project to May or June 2026, Shasho said.

The city received a $1,065,900 state grant for the project.

The small bridge goes over the Youngstown and Southeastern Railroad Co. train line just south of the larger Peace Officers Memorial Bridge that crosses the Mahoning River.

The section of South Avenue — one of the city’s main corridors — that will be under construction for about four months will be closed to traffic with detours.

The vehicular detour will be 3 miles long and use Williamson Avenue, Market Street and Indianola Avenue. The pedestrian detour will be 0.7 of a mile and use Williamson Avenue, Gibson Road and Dorothy Avenue.

The work includes rehabilitating the bridge’s substructure, refacing the abutments, replacing the approach slabs that connect the roadway pavement to the bridge as well as the guardrails, sidewalks, bridge railings, curbs and pavement markings.

The bridge was constructed in 1957 and had major rehabilitation work done to it in 1990. It underwent further improvement work in 2015.

The bridge is listed as “poor” and “structurally deficient” by the Federal Highway Administration. About 5% of the state’s 29,960 bridges are classified as “structurally deficient.”