WRPA Approves Capital Lease for New $9M Farmers Building

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Farmers National Bank will build a new $9 million building adjacent to its Canfield headquarters.

Construction of the 22,000-square-foot office building at 20 S. Broad St. is expected to start June 23, Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, told members of WRPA’s board of directors Wednesday morning. Its expected completion date is September 2024.

At its regularly scheduled meeting, held at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, the WRPA board authorized executing a term sheet and preliminary agreement with Farmers, permitting the port authority to issue a sales tax exemption certificate for the project and provide up to $11 million in bond financing. 

Bank officials were in a board meeting Wednesday morning and unavailable to comment at press time, bank spokeswoman Julianna Begalla said.

“We believe this is going to be a really nice addition to the community,” Trevena said.

The agreement was approved by six of the seven WRPA board members in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting. The seventh, businessman Ed Muransky, who serves on Farmers’ board of directors, abstained.

The WRPA board’s eighth member, Sterling Williams, was absent and excused from the meeting.

Farmers, which earlier this year completed its merger with Emclaire Financial Corp. in Emlenton, Pa., has 703 employees, Trevena reported. “They’re a good steward of our community,” he remarked.

Also during the meeting, WRPA board members approved applying for a $250,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to help fund the purchase of aviation education equipment.

Specifically, the money would go toward the purchase of a full-motion flight simulator that could be used for training pilots and for youth programming, Trevena said. The total estimated cost of the equipment would be $348,768, with the port authority providing matching funds of $98,768 if the request is approved.

“We don’t know if we’ll receive this grant. It’s very competitive,” he said. The grant request first will be evaluated at the local level and, if approved, will go on for state approval.

Pictured at top: Farmers National Bank’s headquarters in Canfield.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.