Landmark Huntington Bank Building Sold
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The landmark Huntington Bank building downtown has sold, according to the real estate firm handling the transaction.
The sale closed Tuesday, said Bill Kutlick, broker for Platz Realty Group, Canfield. Kutlick and fellow agent Adam Divelbiss handled the sale for their client, Mahoning National Bank of Youngstown, which is the owner listed per the auditor’s website.
Kutlick declined to identify the buyer, and terms of the sale were not disclosed. As of this posting, records had not yet been filed with the Mahoning County Auditor’s office.
However, a local architect representing a New York-based entity, 22 Market Street Ohio, presented a conceptual plan for redeveloping the building before the city’s design review committee in August. The committee then gave its general approval to the plan. Sources confirm the New York firm purchased the building.
“We’re finalizing the design documents and hoping to start construction in the first quarter of next year,” Annissa K. Neider, principal of A. Neider Architecture LLC in Canfield, said in an email today.
Platz Realty first listed the building in August 2021, Kutlick said, and an interested buyer came forward not long afterward.
“From the time we got the listing to the time we got a letter of intent was about seven months,” Kutlick said, noting the prospective buyer then began its due diligence. “I think that’s a pretty good turnaround for this type of building.”
Kutlick emphasized that the building is in excellent condition, noting the windows, roof and mechanicals were replaced relatively recently. “The building is in great shape.”
The office building at 23 Federal Plaza is among the most historically significant structures in the city. Built in 1910 and designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Most recently, the building’s ground floor housed the downtown branch of Huntington Bank. The bank moved out last year, but has plans to renovate space and relocate back to the first floor. The building also includes numerous office tenants.
Neider presented the preliminary plans to design review in August. At that time, the plan was to reserve the first four floors of the building for commercial space and convert the upper nine floors to residential units.
Most of the residential levels would have a studio apartment, three two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom spaces, she said at the meeting. The plan also calls for returning the building’s corridors to their historic charm and preserve features such as its marble floors to qualify for historic preservation tax credits.
“It’s a good thing for downtown Youngstown,” said Platz’s Kutlick. “It’s going to be a real good building to repurpose.”
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
