HomeGoods Buys Home Near Site, Teens Steal Signs

LORDSTOWN, Ohio – HomeGoods Inc. yesterday purchased one of the houses on Hallock Young Road close to the site where it proposes to build a $160 million, 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center.

The transaction was posted on the Trumbull County auditor’s website.

Whether that purchase means the company intends to go forward with the project remains to be seen.

“TJX told me they weren’t going to leave the property owners in limbo,” says village Mayor Arno Hill. “So whether the project goes there or not, they were good to their word.”

The property that HomeGoods purchased, 2527 Hallock Young Road SW, was owned by Georgiann M. Fulkerson, who sold it to the company for $225,000. According to the auditor’s site, it was appraised Sept. 18, 2017, for a total value of $131,800.

A residential property next door at 2547 Hallock Young Road SW has not been sold as of this posting but is believed to also be under contract to HomeGoods Inc.

The seven large parcels that comprise the 290 acres for which HomeGoods has secured purchased options to build its distribution center each contain contingencies in the sale contracts – namely that rezoning to industrial must occur before the transactions close, landowners say.

As village officials, residents and economic development leaders wonder when TJX will make a final decision on whether to stay with the site it wants – or find another elsewhere – another question remains unanswered: Who hired three teenagers to steal “Welcome TJX” signs placed throughout the village?

Last night a village patrolman caught the teens stealing signs near the proposed site.

“They were approached by somebody who told them, ‘I’ll give you five bucks a sign,’ ” Hill confirms.

“We have no idea who offered to pay them – not yet. The police are working on that.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.