YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control approved a $300,000 emergency contract to repair the street department building as well as contract increases for projects to a former Bottom Dollar grocery store and improvements to two downtown streets.

The board Thursday agreed to authorize the $300,000 payment to A.P. O’Horo for the Liberty company to repair a collapsing brick wall at the street department building, 1475 Teamster Drive.

Council on Aug. 22 had authorized the board to waive formal bidding.

The work is almost finished, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.

The exterior of the building was pulling away from the building, causing bricks to fall into the driveway of the city’s fuel pumps. The work includes removing the deteriorated facade, stabilizing the exterior walls and replacing the portion of the building that was removed.

The board agreed to increase the payment to Parella-Pannunzio Inc. of Youngstown by $83,190 for a major downtown improvement project to sections of Boardman and Walnut streets.

The project’s cost is now $2,861,833 with the city receiving $2.1 million in state and federal grants.

The increase, approved Thursday, was the result of having to pay for a waterline tie-in and trenching for lighting, Shasho said.

The work began in early June on Boardman Street between Walnut and Market streets, and Walnut Street between Commerce and Wood streets.

The work includes repaving, reducing vehicular lanes, adding diagonal on-street parking on Walnut Street, new crosswalks and curb ramps, improved lighting, landscaping and traffic controls.

Much of that work is finished though only the first layer of asphalt will be done this year with the second layer done in the spring, Shasho said. The landscaping also will have to wait until the spring, he said.

The roads should be reopened in October to vehicular traffic, Shasho said.

The project also features a pedestrian walkway, or step street, on Walnut Street. The site of the walkway is currently a steep asphalt hill near the Choffin Career and Technical Center at the top and a parking lot for the downtown YMCA at the bottom.

Only “preliminary work” has been done to the walkway with the contractor concentrating on the street improvements, Shasho said.

The walkway will be done next spring, he said.

The board of control Thursday also approved a $23,009 change order to the rehabilitation of 2649 Glenwood Ave., the former Bottom Dollar grocery store.

With the increase, the project will cost $1,051,909 — with the money coming from the city’s American Rescue Plan allocation — and is being done by Brock and Associates Builders of North Lima.

The additional work was moving a wall and additional work in the foyer, Shasho said.

The project is almost done, Shasho said.

The Village of Healing, an infant mortality clinic, will be the building’s main tenant with a Cornerstone Food Co-op planned for the location. A third tenant for the space hasn’t been announced.

Bottom Dollar went out of business, closing its three stores in Youngstown, in January 2015 after the company was sold to Aldi Inc.

The city then acquired the Glenwood Avenue property, the former Cleveland Elementary School and a playground, from Aldi. A health facility was initially planned there, but that fell through and the city regained control of the building in June 2023.

Also Thursday, the board approved a $49,919 contract with Technical Resource Consultants for programming and design services for an improvement project to three streets.

The project, estimated to cost $1.5 million, includes repaving and drainage work to Marshall Street from the bridge over the Mahoning River to Glenwood Avenue, Salt Springs Road from the Interstate 680 ramp to Steel Street, and Belle Vista Avenue from Mahoning Avenue to Salt Springs Road.

Of the project’s cost, 80% will be covered by federal funding. The city applied for state funding to cover the remaining 20% and will find out around January if it received it, Shasho said.

The work would start in July 2026 and take two months to finish, he said.