Sheriff’s Sale of Chill Can Site Canceled
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The intended sheriff’s sale of the 22-acre Chill Can property on the city’s east side will not go forward as planned next week.
Assistant Law Director Lou D’Apolito told The Business Journal on Thursday that the sale was canceled because appraisers were not able to assess a value on the property.
Instead, the city will ask the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that it use the appraised value listed with the Mahoning County auditor’s office for a future auction of the site. The 22 acres and the three vacant buildings there are appraised at $1.993 million, according to auditor records.
D’Apolito said the base bid for the property would begin at two-thirds of the appraised value.
Initially, the court listed two dates for the sale, Nov. 11 and 26.
Three appraisers were hired at $100 apiece to assess the land and buildings at the site, court documents show. However, each was unable to issue a value on the property, citing that the city and Scott Berger, an individual who at one time served as a vice president for the developer, owned parcels where at least one of the buildings stand, according to court documents.
These entities therefore have a vested interest in the property, according to appraisers’ notes filed with the court.
Proceeds from any sale of the site would be used to repay lienholders – namely the city, MS Consultants and the Mahoning County Treasurer for tax delinquencies on the property.
The sale’s cancellation is just another twist in an eight-year odyssey that began in 2016 when Mitchell Joseph, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based M.J. Joseph Development and Joseph Co. International, announced the company would invest nearly $20 million to build a campus dedicated to research, development and manufacturing of self-chilling beverage cans and related technologies.
M.J. Joseph and the city signed development agreements that awarded the developer $1.5 million in wastewater grants for the project as well as tax breaks. In return, the developer was to create 237 jobs.
Although three buildings were constructed at the site, not a single “chill can” was ever produced, and the company reported just two jobs created. That triggered in 2021 a lengthy legal battle between the city and M.J. Joseph.
Anticipating court action, M.J. Joseph filed a complaint in June 2021 against the city, alleging the city did not have the authority to collect monetary damages or was entitled to the land. The city countersued for $2.8 million, demanding a refund of its development grant, relocation and acquisition expenses and computed lost income tax revenue.
MS Consultants filed a complaint in January 2023 seeking $322,907.80 from M.J. Joseph, arguing it was not paid for work it completed at the project site.
After a court ruled against M.J. Joseph, MS Consultants filed a separate foreclosure action, which the city ultimately joined.
In the meantime, M.J. Joseph’s attorneys withdrew their representation. In May, the court closed out the city’s litigation against the developer, as the city deemed it unlikely it would ever collect its money. MS Consultants had earlier voluntarily dismissed its case against the company.
M.J. Joseph and its CEO have essentially walked away from all litigation and the entire project. The company’s website is no longer active, nor are its phone lines.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
