Affordable housing complex coming to Youngstown

120-unit facility groundbreaking in October

YOUNGSTOWN -- Funding is lined up for a $35 million, 120-unit affordable housing apartment complex at the site of the former Woodside Receiving Hospital with construction expected to start in October.

Wallick Development LLC of New Albany received approval from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency for the issuance of up to $21.5 million in Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds and a $10 million Ohio Low-Income Housing Tax Credit -- one of only 10 projects selected for the 4% tax credits out of 48 applications -- with the rest of the money coming from banks for the housing project, called Homestead Crossing.

Jimmy McCune, Wallick's vice president of development, said: "The market data we have shows an affordable housing shortage in the United States with a huge demand for affordable apartments in and around Youngstown. It's much higher than you'd think. We think it's a great market and that this project will be a success."

Wallick has about 13,000 housing units under its ownership and management, primarily in Ohio with other locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois and North Carolina, McCune said.

This would be the company's first location in northeast Ohio, he said.

The company will have Wallick Construction LLC, an affiliated company, construct five three-story walkup buildings with 120 total units -- 30 one-bedroom apartments, 72 two-bedroom apartments and 18 three-bedroom apartments. The site will include 160 parking spots, a playground, and community area with a kitchenette, exercise room, central laundry facilities, sitting area and a covered community patio.

The rentals would be income-restricted to households earning up to 60% of the Area Media Income. Youngstown's median income is about $35,000.

"It's not rent subsidized, but the rents are capped to keep them at an affordable level," McCune said.

Construction is to start in October and be finished around August 2028, McCune said.

"We'll purchase the property when the project closes," he said.

The project would be built at 800 E. Indianola Ave. on the city's South Side.

It was the site of the former Woodside Receiving Hospital, which opened in the early 1940s and closed in 1996 as a state-run psychiatric hospital because of the state's reduced funding for such facilities. It then became Lincoln Behavioral Center, a privately owned residential facility for counseling of those between the ages of 8 and 20 sent there by juvenile justice courts and children services agencies. Lincoln closed in 2008.

After that, the structure deteriorated, becoming an eyesore, and was demolished in late 2014.

The owner of the demolition contractor was charged and subsequently convicted in Youngstown Municipal Court on a misdemeanor of not following demolition and removal procedures for failing to haul away debris. The case lasted nearly two years and the municipal court judge's conviction was upheld by the 7th District Court of Appeals.

The Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board and New Housing Ohio announced plans in April 2024 for an apartment complex for those with mental illnesses at the site. The project did not materialize.