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YOUNGSTOWN - The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and a West Chester company are planning a $19 million, 63-unit affordable housing apartment building on the city's North Side.
"We've had our eye on Youngstown for a while because there's a strong need for affordable housing and a limited amount of housing stock so we wanted to build in the city to meet that demand," said Pete Schwiegeraht, senior vice president of development for Pivotal Housing Partners, which is teaming up with the YNDC for the Wick Lofts project.
Construction is expected to start in spring 2027 and take about 15 months to complete, Schwiegeraht said.
The four-story building will be on Wick Avenue between Sycamore Street and Linden Avenue, said Ian Beniston, YNDC executive director.
Beniston said: "There is a great need for this. Pivotal brought this to us. We've been approached before, but it's been generally outside the city. We felt it best to build in Youngstown."
Beniston said Pivotal, based in West Chester, is a "well-established developer of affordable housing. They have done 10,000 units."
That includes senior citizen housing in Boardman and Liberty.
The YNDC is listed as the development's majority member, but Beniston said Pivotal will develop the property and then manage it.
The building will have a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with an elevator and will be energy efficient, Schwiegeraht said.
The development will be financed with conventional debt as well as federal tax credits through the Ohio Housing Financing Agency, Schwiegeraht said.
The property is owned by the city on a portion of land that was previously known as Wick Six, a group of new car dealerships that left in the 1980s and early 1990s as the area deteriorated.
The city set aside $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds in 2024 for the study and design of a safety campus at the Wick Six site that will never come to fruition.
DeMaine Kitchen, the city's community planning and economic development department director, said YNDC and Pivotal have an option to buy the property as they finalize the funding for the project.
Schwiegeraht said: "This will be a brownfield and we'll be cleaning it up. We're really excited to be there and the city has been very helpful."
As this is considered affordable housing, those eligible to rent units at the building cannot exceed 80% of the area's Adjusted Home Income limits, Schwiegeraht said.
For a single person, that annual income is $49,120. For a couple, it's $56,160. For a family of three, it's $63,200 and for a family of four, it's $70,160.
Schwiegeraht said: "Those who qualify will get a discounted rent. We'll be able to deliver rent of $150 to $300 to $400 below market. This will be a super high-efficiency building so people will save on utilities."
The YNDC has built numerous new residential homes in Youngstown, both to buy and to rent.
Beniston said: "We're playing catch-up on this because it's been so long since units were built in Youngstown. The housing stock hasn't kept up with the need. We've been building, but we've also torn down units and other existing rentals aren't in good condition. We have a lack of new housing in the city and others haven't been improved. This provides more stable, newer units for people to call home."
A separate $35 million, 120-unit affordable housing apartment complex is being built by Wallick Development LLC of New Albany at the site of the former Woodside Receiving Hospital on the city's South Side.
Homestead Crossing Apartments is targeting residents who earn up to 60% of the area's Adjusted Home Income.
A groundbreaking was last month for the five buildings and construction will take 23 months to complete.