Staff photo / Richard Logan Thomas Humphries Hall, which housed the former main branch of Eastern Gateway Community College in downtown Youngstown, and the adjacent parking deck will be demolished to make way for a new centralized government center for Mahoning County.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County commissioners signed an agreement Wednesday with the Western Reserve Port Authority for the demolition of the former Eastern Gateway Community College building and parking deck and for work on a new structure to serve as a centralized county government center.

The project is estimated to cost about $60 million.

Demolition will begin in late spring and should be finished in early fall, said Commissioner Geno DiFabio. Construction on the new county government center should begin in early 2027 and is expected to be done by early 2028, he said.

The port authority purchased the former Eastern Gateway building, 101 E. Boardman St., in September.

The agreement includes the commissioners getting back the $2.5 million it paid the WRPA in November 2024 to acquire the Patriot Building, the former InfoCision call center in Austintown, and using that money toward the demolition of Eastern Gateway.

When the new government building is finished, DiFabio said, it’s going to be a county administrative building.

A number of county agencies now housed at Oakhill Renaissance Place and even those at the courthouse and the county administration building, which is next to it, could end up moving to the new facility when it is finished, DiFabio said.

“Everything is on the table,” he said. “No decisions have been made. But the plan is to consolidate county services out of that building. I’m very excited for the reorganization of our 17 departments. We’re looking at things with a fresh set of eyes. The county is moving forward. It is the answer to Oakhill. It’s going to replace Oakhill. But it has to be designed. It’s going to be what Oakhill was supposed to be.”

In a highly controversial move in 2006, county commissioners purchased the former Southside Hospital, 345 Oak Hill Ave., and moved various agencies there.

Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti said the Department of Job and Family Services, now located at Oakhill, would definitely move to the new downtown building.

“We’ll have discussions on the other county agencies to see what fits there,” she said. “We’re in the beginning stages of it. We want everything to be centrally located.”

The board of elections, which is located there, has been vocal about needing to move from the outdated Oakhill building for a few years. DiFabio said the elections board will relocate from Oakhill, and the new government building is one possibility.

“The board of elections will be very much a part of the decision as to where they will move,” he said.

The parking deck at the former Eastern Gateway was closed a few years ago because of its poor condition and will be replaced. A new deck would have enough parking spaces for county workers and, if needed, for those who come to the board of elections to early vote in person should the board move there, DiFabio said.

Besides JFS and the elections board, other agencies at Oakhill are the coroner’s office, title office and county recycling (Green Team) with the county Veterans Service Commission almost completely gone from there and relocating to its own building on Belmont Avenue.

As for what will be done with Oakhill after it is vacant, DiFabio said he will look to the state and / or federal governments for money to demolish it.

“It can be used for housing or something else,” he said.

Rimedio-Righetti said the county could try to sell the property. She also said the new government building will help with the revitalization of downtown Youngstown.

Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said, “Consolidating services in one modern, accessible building is not only the fiscally responsible choice, it’s the right choice for taxpayers. The demolition of the old structure is an important milestone toward a more efficient future for county government.”