YOUNGSTOWN — Officials with the outgoing Mayor Jamael Tito Brown administration asked a city council committee to consider providing funding to assist with two development projects.

One request is for about $500,000 for a $16.5 million project to 22 Market St., the former 13-story Mahoning National Bank Building in downtown. The plan is for 71 apartment units on its upper nine floors with commercial space on its lower floors.

The other request is for about $325,000, divided into three parts, as part of a $1.8 million project to open a gas station and market at 3827 Market St.

The projects were discussed Monday at a council community planning and economic development committee (CPED) meeting.

The 22 Market St. project is about $2.5 million short, including a $2 million state tax credit it can’t receive until after it is completed, said Stephanie Gilchrist, the city’s economic development director.

City Finance Director Kyle Miasek said the administration would ask council for approval on a $500,000 grant that would contingent on the project reaching certain milestones.

Nikki Fields, the mayor’s chief of staff and CPED director, said the city is “trying to exhaust all options before we make any commitment” to the project’s developer.

While there is a gap of about $2.5 million between what the developer has and what is needed for the project, city council is not being asked to provide all of that money, Fields said. The financial gap was initially about $6 million with the city assisting in “shrinking the gap,” she said.

The 85,000-square-foot, 114-year-old building, on the city’s Central Square on Market Street between Boardman and Federal streets, sold in December 2022 for $2.3 million to 22 Market Street Ohio LLC of Monroe, N.Y.

The first floor, which has the Huntington branch, will be available for retail space, including a possible restaurant or coffee shop.

The second to fourth floors will be commercial space with professional offices, several of which have been in the building for years such as lawyers, accountants and title agents.

The fifth to 13th floors will house 71 apartments – a mixture of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedrooms.

QUICK STOP REQUEST

The other request discussed Monday was to assist with the development of Four Lane Quick Stop, 3827 Market St. at Midlothian Boulevard in three ways.

The largest request, for $185,000, would be for underground storm water detention. Another project, estimated at $74,850, would be for a double-sided electric sign that the city would either own or have under a long-term lease.

The third part would replace existing sidewalks at an estimated cost of about $65,580.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward and CPED chairman, said he supported the gas station and market project.

“My only apprehension is sidewalks are a touchy subject,” he said.

The owners of Four Lane lease Sami Quick Stop across the street.

20 FEDERAL PLACE DISCUSSION

Also Monday, council members, particularly Oliver, discussed possibly developing the city-owned 20 Federal Place into a new police station with some other city offices along with retail and residential space. Oliver also suggested the county lease space at the building.

Fields said city officials talked to their counterparts in the county about three years ago about possibly moving some county offices there, but nothing occurred.

The building has been vacant for three years with Youngstown unable to find a firm to redevelop it.

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 building wouldn’t be used.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, said 20 Federal Place is a “blank slate” for potential development, and “too big to take down.”

Ray said putting city and possibly county offices in the building is “definitely worth exploring.”

Some at Monday’s meeting talked of possibly relocating the county board of elections to the building. Elections board officials have said they’re not interested in relocating downtown because of parking issues though they have repeatedly sought to move out of Oakhill Renaissance Place, about a mile from downtown.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN

The council committee also heard a brief update about plans from Valley Christian High School to finalize the purchase of the former South High Fieldhouse location from the city for a new football and track facility.

The initial project was for $9 million to $10 million, but has been scaled back to $5 million, said Michael Pecchia, the school’s president.

City council voted June 18 to sell the fieldhouse site to the school for $64,460, its appraised value.

But the sale hasn’t been finalized as the city is looking to negotiate project milestones.

The school has raised about $150,000 toward the project with a formal campaign kicking off in February, Pecchia said.

“We wanted to wait until we acquired the building,” he said. “A lot of folks said, ‘You’ve got to wait until you acquire the (property) to really start any major fundraising.'”