Vote for appraisal contracts set for Chill-Can parcels
YOUNGSTOWN — The board of control will vote Thursday on contracts for appraisals of the two remaining parcels the city doesn’t own at the dormant Chill-Can site as well as the former Anthony’s on the River property.
The city owns all of the Chill-Can property but those two parcels, which are in the possession of Mitchell Joseph, the head of M.J. Joseph Development Corp. and its sister companies. Joseph abandoned the undeveloped project in 2020 on the lower East Side.
The former Anthony’s location on Oak Hill Avenue is needed to gain access to one of the three low-head dams in the Mahoning River that the city is planning to remove and to use as a staging area, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.
The two items on today’s board of control agenda are sponsored by Law Director Adam Buente, one of the board’s three members. Also on the board are Mayor Derrick McDowell and Finance Director Kyle Miasek.
Buente said, “We’re hoping to work with the property owners to come to an amicable solution.”
If not, the city could take the properties by eminent domain.
Both appraisal contracts are with Sammartino, Stout & Lo Presti of Erie, Pa. The Chill-Can appraisal will cost $3,000, while the other will cost $4,000.
The appraisals will “develop an opinion of fair market value for a total take” of the properties, according to the board of control items.
“This is an economic development project,” Buente said of the Chill-Can parcels.
The city purchased 86 parcels, a majority of the location, at a Feb. 18, 2025, sheriff’s sale for $1,379,580, which was two-thirds of the county auditor’s value of the property.
The city used most of the $1.5 million it is owed by M.J. Joseph in a court decision — with interest, that amount increased to $1,600,900 — as well as that it owns numerous properties in and around the Chill-Can site to purchase it. The city submitted the only bid for the property at the sheriff’s sale.
The city already owned 26 parcels before the sale.
The board of control agreed Feb. 26 to pay $10,000 to Scott Berger of Irvine, California, a former Chill-Can parent company’s vice president, for two small parcels at the site of the failed business on North Lane Avenue.
The parcels were appraised at a total of $2,300 when the city purchased them. Berger bought the small parcels Aug. 31, 2015, for $3,000, according to the Mahoning County auditor’s website.
The parcels were not included in the sheriff’s sale of the 21-acre site.
The city in January amended a contract with the Western Reserve Port Authority to permit it to seek buyers for a number of city-owned properties, including the Chill-Can site, for potential development.
The former Chill-Can site was the subject of much controversy and lengthy litigation.
Joseph claimed when the project broke ground in November 2016 that it would cost $18.8 million to build. Joseph walked away from the project in 2020 and abandoned his legal fight in early 2024.
The city had envisioned the business as leading an economic revival of the area, with Joseph saying the facility would be in operation by 2018, producing the world’s only self-chilling beverage can with four buildings and 237 jobs by Aug. 31, 2021.
Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John M. Durkin ruled Nov. 25, 2024, in favor of Youngstown and MS Consultants Inc., the two lead plaintiffs in the foreclosure case against M.J. Joseph — which exists only on paper — as well as for the county treasurer’s office that a sheriff’s sale could be held using the county auditor’s value for the lots.
Durkin ruled Aug. 22, 2025, that M.J. Joseph owes $1.5 million to Youngstown and $322,908 to MS, as well as $2,650 in court fees to the two and delinquent taxes.
The city is owed the $1.5 million for water and wastewater grants it gave M.J. Joseph in 2017 to develop the property.
MS is owed the $322,908 for unpaid design work on the supposed project.
ANTHONY’S ON THE RIVER
The city is planning a project, costing up to $6.12 million, to remove three low-head dams in the Mahoning River to improve water quality and clean contaminated sediment behind them.
An ordinance approved May 20 by council permits the board of control to spend up to $200,000 to acquire parcels and easements for the work.
The funding for the project is coming from state grants. The dams are located by Crescent, Center and Marshall streets.
The former Anthony’s on the River site on Oak Hill Avenue is needed to get to the Marshall Street dam and for the staging of the project, Shasho said.
The dam removal project is expected to be awarded shortly by the board of control, with the project expected to end in 2028.
Buente said of the appraisal, “We need to start the process now as the dam work has to be done.”
The property was the source of a lengthy lawsuit, settled April 25, 2024, after the city demolished the structure Aug. 22, 2020, without first informing city council.
Two Bridges LLC, which owns the Anthony’s property, filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 13, 2020, seeking $212,000 in damages with attorney fees and court costs.
The settlement had the city pay $80,000 in court costs as well as the removal of a $48,000 demolition assessment and $10,675 in interest on that assessment, both of which were on Two Bridges’ tax statement as delinquent. The city agreed to pay any remaining delinquent tax balance on the property, which was about $10,000, but not any future potential delinquencies.
County auditor records show Two Bridges is currently $4,062.57 delinquent on its property taxes at that location and is late on a $1,394.03 tax bill that was due in March.
Vote for appraisal contracts set for Chill-Can parcels
YOUNGSTOWN — The board of control will vote Thursday on contracts for appraisals of the two remaining parcels the city doesn’t own at the dormant Chill-Can site as well as the former Anthony’s on the River property.
The city owns all of the Chill-Can property but those two parcels, which are in the possession of Mitchell Joseph, the head of M.J. Joseph Development Corp. and its sister companies. Joseph abandoned the undeveloped project in 2020 on the lower East Side.
The former Anthony’s location on Oak Hill Avenue is needed to gain access to one of the three low-head dams in the Mahoning River that the city is planning to remove and to use as a staging area, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.
The two items on today’s board of control agenda are sponsored by Law Director Adam Buente, one of the board’s three members. Also on the board are Mayor Derrick McDowell and Finance Director Kyle Miasek.
Buente said, “We’re hoping to work with the property owners to come to an amicable solution.”
If not, the city could take the properties by eminent domain.
Both appraisal contracts are with Sammartino, Stout & Lo Presti of Erie, Pa. The Chill-Can appraisal will cost $3,000, while the other will cost $4,000.
The appraisals will “develop an opinion of fair market value for a total take” of the properties, according to the board of control items.
“This is an economic development project,” Buente said of the Chill-Can parcels.
The city purchased 86 parcels, a majority of the location, at a Feb. 18, 2025, sheriff’s sale for $1,379,580, which was two-thirds of the county auditor’s value of the property.
The city used most of the $1.5 million it is owed by M.J. Joseph in a court decision — with interest, that amount increased to $1,600,900 — as well as that it owns numerous properties in and around the Chill-Can site to purchase it. The city submitted the only bid for the property at the sheriff’s sale.
The city already owned 26 parcels before the sale.
The board of control agreed Feb. 26 to pay $10,000 to Scott Berger of Irvine, California, a former Chill-Can parent company’s vice president, for two small parcels at the site of the failed business on North Lane Avenue.
The parcels were appraised at a total of $2,300 when the city purchased them. Berger bought the small parcels Aug. 31, 2015, for $3,000, according to the Mahoning County auditor’s website.
The parcels were not included in the sheriff’s sale of the 21-acre site.
The city in January amended a contract with the Western Reserve Port Authority to permit it to seek buyers for a number of city-owned properties, including the Chill-Can site, for potential development.
The former Chill-Can site was the subject of much controversy and lengthy litigation.
Joseph claimed when the project broke ground in November 2016 that it would cost $18.8 million to build. Joseph walked away from the project in 2020 and abandoned his legal fight in early 2024.
The city had envisioned the business as leading an economic revival of the area, with Joseph saying the facility would be in operation by 2018, producing the world’s only self-chilling beverage can with four buildings and 237 jobs by Aug. 31, 2021.
Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John M. Durkin ruled Nov. 25, 2024, in favor of Youngstown and MS Consultants Inc., the two lead plaintiffs in the foreclosure case against M.J. Joseph — which exists only on paper — as well as for the county treasurer’s office that a sheriff’s sale could be held using the county auditor’s value for the lots.
Durkin ruled Aug. 22, 2025, that M.J. Joseph owes $1.5 million to Youngstown and $322,908 to MS, as well as $2,650 in court fees to the two and delinquent taxes.
The city is owed the $1.5 million for water and wastewater grants it gave M.J. Joseph in 2017 to develop the property.
MS is owed the $322,908 for unpaid design work on the supposed project.
ANTHONY’S ON THE RIVER
The city is planning a project, costing up to $6.12 million, to remove three low-head dams in the Mahoning River to improve water quality and clean contaminated sediment behind them.
An ordinance approved May 20 by council permits the board of control to spend up to $200,000 to acquire parcels and easements for the work.
The funding for the project is coming from state grants. The dams are located by Crescent, Center and Marshall streets.
The former Anthony’s on the River site on Oak Hill Avenue is needed to get to the Marshall Street dam and for the staging of the project, Shasho said.
The dam removal project is expected to be awarded shortly by the board of control, with the project expected to end in 2028.
Buente said of the appraisal, “We need to start the process now as the dam work has to be done.”
The property was the source of a lengthy lawsuit, settled April 25, 2024, after the city demolished the structure Aug. 22, 2020, without first informing city council.
Two Bridges LLC, which owns the Anthony’s property, filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 13, 2020, seeking $212,000 in damages with attorney fees and court costs.
The settlement had the city pay $80,000 in court costs as well as the removal of a $48,000 demolition assessment and $10,675 in interest on that assessment, both of which were on Two Bridges’ tax statement as delinquent. The city agreed to pay any remaining delinquent tax balance on the property, which was about $10,000, but not any future potential delinquencies.
County auditor records show Two Bridges is currently $4,062.57 delinquent on its property taxes at that location and is late on a $1,394.03 tax bill that was due in March.