YOUNGSTOWN — The Village of Healing, which was supposed to be the anchor tenant at the former Bottom Dollar building on Glenwood Avenue, fired back at the Mayor Derrick McDowell administration, contending the latter failed to communicate with the organization, leading to it not coming to Youngstown.

Da’na M. Langford, CEO and founder of Village of Healing, said the organization, which planned to operate an infant mortality clinic, only found out about issues with the long-vacant Bottom Dollar grocery story building when sent an April 3 Vindicator article about them.

Langford said, “We are both disappointed and surprised by the ongoing discussions and media reports happening in Youngstown. No one from the current administration has reached out to us since the new mayor took office. For over two years, we were in active discussions and moving forward with the previous administration to bring culturally sensitive care to the community.”

Langford said, “No one from the city of Youngstown — including Law Director Adam Buente or DeMaine Kitchen (the community planning and economic development director) — has reached out to us to discuss moving forward.”

Buente said at an April 14 council committee meeting that the Village of Healing never returned his inquiries, while Kitchen said he had only a preliminary conversation with VOH officials.

Langford acknowledged “a brief five-minute phone conversation occurred when a third-party reached out regarding a potential visit,” but “we have not heard anything since.”

Langford said VOH attorneys were in contact with the city’s law department following the election that saw McDowell defeat two-term incumbent Jamael Tito Brown, who pushed for VOH to move to Bottom Dollar.

But because of a lack of responsiveness from the city since then, plans to expand into Youngstown are on hold, Langford said.

Langford also said Kitchen made an incorrect statement to The Vindicator in an April 3 article that VOH was looking at a site on Glenwood Avenue near the long-dormant Bottom Dollar building.

Langford said, “We have not spoken to Mr. Kitchen or anyone else in the city about alternative locations. There would be no reason to consider another site when a facility was already built out to our specifications. The Bottom Dollar project represented a shared vision to create a national model for culturally responsive, patient-centered care.”

When asked on Facebook about another site for VOH, Kitchen wrote he is “not really concerned about what The Vindicator reported. I’m interested in what I actually said and what actually happened.” Later on, Kitchen contended he was “misquoted.”

Challenged by a reporter that he wasn’t misquoted and the conversation was taped, Kitchen didn’t address the statement about an alternate site for VOH and instead wrote, “Never made a commitment to them. Never slammed the door on them either.”

McDowell, who originated the Bottom Dollar post on Facebook, said there was never a lease agreement with VOH because the city didn’t have a landlord in place “to oversee any tenant.”

McDowell wrote, “No landlord = no lease = no tenant. The city of Youngstown presently owns the structure and is willing to properly engage with anyone who had/has an interest in it. But a clear and strategic landlord and/or a tenant process must be followed.”

McDowell wrote: “In my 100+ days into this term, this is what I’ve inherited. There is not some conspiracy here. It’s just the public facts.”

The city had attempted to have the Western Reserve Port Authority serve as the Bottom Dollar landlord, but city officials said at the April 14 council committee meeting that the agency wasn’t interested in doing so for VOH, which would occupy about one-third of the building.

The Mahoning County Board of Elections is interested in negotiating with the city to have the WRPA buy the building and then lease all of it from the agency for an initial 15 years. The WRPA is working with the elections board to find a new location, including Bottom Dollar, that fits its needs.

Andy Resnick, the city’s spokesman, said on behalf of the McDowell administration, “Clearly this proposed project, as with any transition in administrations, highlights the importance of clear communication and proper handoff between all parties. The new administration has worked to gather more information and remains ready to revisit with previously interested parties who are willing to engage as well as others who have shown interest to arrive at the optimal use of the site.”

City council agreed in 2024 to use $1.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds to turn the store, vacant since January 2015, into a community hub during the Brown administration. But the ARP funds took care of only one-third of the building’s interior improvement work without touching the rest of it or much-needed repairs to its roof.

In the April 3 article, Kitchen said the project “was not well thought out by the previous administration.” Kitchen said the city had no plans to spend any more money at the Bottom Dollar location and was trying to sell it.

The city had discussions with two other tenants for the rest of the building on Glenwood Avenue. No lease with either agency was signed.

Kitchen also said the Brown administration never signed a lease with VOH for the building.

Before McDowell became mayor, Langford said plans were progressing for a February opening.

Langford said, “Since the election, we have made repeated attempts to engage the new administration. We reached out directly and through the chamber of commerce to set up a meeting, and we were assured that a meeting would be scheduled. That has not happened.”

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

The city acquired the Glenwood Avenue property — the former Cleveland Elementary School and a playground — from Aldi.

ONE (Ohio North East) Health Ohio announced in April 2016 that it wanted to buy the building and turn it into a health facility as well as a food distribution site and possibly a pharmacy. The city sold the building to ONE for $150,000 in March 2018. But after a lengthy delay, ONE eventually decided not to do the project, and the city refunded the $150,000 in June 2023.