Council to Consider $4M Loan for Enclave Project

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – City Council this week will consider development agreements to help finance a $16 million student housing complex at Youngstown State University.

Council’s committee on housing, community and economic development will meet at 5 p.m. today to discuss the city administration’s requests for action on the agreement with Youngstown Campus Associates LLC, as well as a separate development agreement with Students Motivated by the Arts, or Smarts.

Council will take up both requests at its scheduled meeting Wednesday.

Youngstown Campus Associates, an entity of LRC Realty of Akron, proposes to develop The Enclave, a 65-unit, 194-bed housing facility and create 11,000 square feet of retail space at Lincoln and Wick avenues.

The company is seeking a float loan of up to $4 million for a 12-month term at 25% interest, as well as a $500,000 grant for establishing water service and water service-related improvements to the site. As a condition of the loan, LRC will provide an unconditional, irrevocable letter of credit from an accredited financial institution.

LRC is planning to start construction in July, T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s director of community planning and economic development, said this morning. The company plans to have the project completed for the start of classes for YSU’s fall 2018 semester.

Construction of the residential section of the project should take 13 months, Gary O’Nesti, special projects director with LRC Realty, told the Western Reserve Port Authority’s board of directors last month. Construction on the project’s retail component should begin in March, he said.

The Port Authority last year approved issuing up to $14 million in bonds for the project, and at its meeting last month approved distribution of sales tax exemption certificates to contractors on the project.

Smarts, which opened its new offices in the Ohio One Building last week, is seeking a grant of up to $13,800 for water and wastewater improvements at the site. According to the ordinance, cost of the improvements to the space is estimated at $277,000.

At its meeting Wednesday, council members also will consider a resolution expressing support for the location of medical marijuana cultivation centers in the city.

Last month, Council heard from five groups interested in obtaining one of the licenses the state of Ohio will distribute to cultivation centers.

Pictured: Rendering of Enclave housing project.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.