YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – One year after the May 28, 2024, natural gas explosion that tore through East Federal Street and the Realty Tower, downtown remains in a state of recovery.
Traffic has been restored on the section of East Federal, which just before the explosion had been redone as part of the Smart2 Network project. Patrons once again flow into and out of the DoubleTree by Hilton Youngtown Downtown and the restaurant that had been Bistro 1907 until last fall; both are housed in the Stambaugh Building, which had been shuttered for months over safety concerns related to Realty Tower until it was demolished.
The Chase Bank branch that occupied part of Realty’s ground floor – obliterated by the explosion, which also claimed the life of a bank employee – has since relocated to space in the Stambaugh Building.
In the meantime, city officials are preparing to unveil a marketing plan and other initiatives that have been anxiously awaited by downtown stakeholders.
The DoubleTree, which occupies the majority of the renovated Stambaugh Building, was closed from May 28 to Aug. 21. The building was within a 210-foot-radius of Realty Tower, which engineers determined was in danger of collapsing,
“The first day we opened, we had reservations already on the books,” said Kim Patrone, sales manager. The hotel had been canceling reservations only on a week-by-week basis because no one knew when the property was going to reopen for stays. The hotel also was able to retain about 90% of its staff.
This spring, the hotel also opened its Windows on the Square Lounge, which overlooks Central Square.
“It’s been very well-received,” she said. “It’s just such a great space.”
Occupancy is improving but not quite back up to pre-explosion levels – about 60% to 70% now, compared with about 80% a year earlier, but Patrone is confident that bookings will recover.
“There’s still some people out there who didn’t realize that we were reopened,” she said. She also attributed the lower bookings to overall softness in the industry because of the national economy.
Restaurant Reopens with New Name
Also directly affected by the blast was Mark Canzonetta, who had opened his Bistro 1907 in the Stambaugh Building in 2018 and was similarly forced to close.
The walls of what is now known as Casa di Canzonetta are lined with photos of family, including his late father and grandfather, as well as movies and television shows that he loves, such as “Goodfellas” and “The Sopranos.”
For his past restaurants, he relied on someone he described as “a muse” to help him design them.
“I felt this one had to come from me, and so I picked out every picture from things that mean something to me in my past that helped guide me and shape my culinary and my family compass, per se,” he said. “I felt that every one of these pictures say something.”
Canzonetta had been sitting in his restaurant with colleagues on the afternoon of May 28 last year when the explosion happened.
“I’d never heard anything that loud in my life, and I’ve been to a lot of fireworks displays in New York City and other places,” he said. The sound wave rocked the building “a little bit.”
Shut down completely for three months and reopened for one month specifically to serve hotel guests, Canzonetta determined that his Stambaugh Building restaurant, which opened as Bistro 1907 in 2018, required a rebrand.
“I felt like the city needed something to get their arms around and get excited again,” he said. He had been wanting to focus on Italian food again, and Casa di Canzonetta opened in October.
Since the opening, the new restaurant has been on fire, he reported. “The recovery was great,” he said. The restaurant didn’t hit Bistro’s numbers in its first three months of operations, but Canzonetta didn’t expect it to, a reflection of the times as patrons feel overtaxed.
Businesses Suffered
Jack Colucci, owner of Mahoning Snacks for the past 18 years, estimated his business dropped probably 50% or 60% in the immediate aftermath of the explosion. Much of his business comes from the residents of International Towers, which is directly across the street from his store, and which also was within the collapse zone and evacuated for several weeks.
Business recovered soon after residents moved back into the building Aug. 21.
“This is my bread and butter right now,” he said.
At West 34, a couple blocks away from the Stambaugh Building and the former Realty site, Steve Bernard, the restaurant/bar’s new manager, also acknowledged business suffered after the explosion. Recovery is taking place, but the process isn’t helped by frequent construction and other projects downtown – including work that was going on just outside that discouraged access to his venue.
Though the majority of the Smart2 work is done, downtown streets have been closed recently because of the placement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment on downtown buildings and installation of new signs on the WesBanco Bank building.
“With the explosion and with all the construction, it’s not only hurting business for us, but all other restaurants downtown,” Bernard said. Gringos, which opened on North Phelps in November 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, recently closed. “It’s hard to run a business when we have the streets closed every day,” he said.
Encouraging Downtown Traffic
Bernard said West 34 just rolled out a new drink menu and is planning seasonal food menus. He is encouraged by the downtown outdoor refreshment area – or DORA – district the city established.
“We’re optimistic for the summer with having events down here, and hopefully we’ll have more foot traffic,” he said. “I’m really trying to upgrade this place, get it in perfect tip-top shape to maximize the experience for our guests,” he said.
To encourage traffic at downtown hospitality venues, 717 Credit Union in Warren established a program that offers gift cards to downtown establishments for people who refinance their vehicles with the credit union.
“We knew that a vibrant downtown Youngstown benefits the broader region economically, and with a vibrant downtown, we know home values go up for everybody,” said John Demmler, president and CEO of 717. “The quality of the city’s nightlife is enhanced. So that was important to us.”
The credit union did 300 refinances, which led to about $60,000 in reinvestment into downtown restaurants, which Demmler acknowledged “wasn’t the level of engagement that we were hoping for,” so the promotion was extended to new vehicle purchases. The promotion will end May 31.
“We want to use this as an example of just one way one business can make an impact into downtown Youngstown, and maybe other businesses can think through unique ways to also help with the revitalization of downtown,” Demmler said. He said 717’s commitment to downtown will go “beyond this one campaign.”
Promoting Downtown
Both Canzonetta and Patrone called on the city to do more marketing to promote that downtown roads are open and parking is available, as well as to encourage events to take place downtown and to promote downtown events.
Youngstown “needs to market itself,” letting the public know that there are things to do downtown and the roads are open, Patrone said.
“You hear constant social media cries from suburbs that they don’t want to come down because they can’t find a place to park, or we have all these wonderful restaurants, but they feel that there’s nothing to do,” she continued. She also feels like there are fewer events taking place downtown, a concern since hotel occupancy is driven by downtown area activities.
“We need to bring the people from the ’burbs. We need to give them a reason to come downtown,” Canzoneta said.
While Penguin City Brewing Co. has helped bring some people back to downtown, since the pandemic even a lot of the traffic from the Youngtown State University campus is down. When there is an event happening downtown, the city doesn’t always get the word out fast enough to downtown establishments so they can have their social media teams get the word out.
“We need somebody to announce what’s going on and to get people to come. We need an advertising campaign … to get people to come back down to downtown Youngstown,” Canzonetta said. “We need those families with their baby strollers, walking their dogs, riding their bicycles, driving around in their cars.”
Short-Term Plans
While the city is still working on long-term plans for downtown, it is preparing to unveil short-term plans in June, said Stephanie Gilchrist, Youngstown’s director of economic development. Lake to River Economic Development secured a $50,000 grant to help with that planning, with matching funds provided by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber Foundation.
Some of the immediate steps will include wayfinding signage, which will include directions to available parking.
“Recovery for us is taking time, because it’s about building the businesses back and building the trust of the people that downtown is safe and that we are open for business,” Gilchrist said.
The city also plans to work with downtown restaurants and bars to better capitalize on events taking place at venues such as the Covelli Centre and Youngtown Foundation Amphitheatre. City officials were notified recently that one of the upcoming amphitheater shows has been sold out for months.
“Now it’s our job to engage our business owners and say, ‘Hey, do you know that this is sold out? How are you going to promote? Let’s help you promote,’” she said.
The city also needs to do more to bring businesses downtown to fill the vacant office space, possibly by creating an income tax abatement program to get “people to fill those amazing buildings across the street that are absolutely gorgeous inside,” Canzonetta said. “The craftsmanship that’s inside of those buildings is amazing.”
Cleveland-based Yonder Brunch & Vibes recently opened in the former Kitchen Post space, and the 20 Federal Place project – which has a timeline because of the historic tax credits associated with it – is getting ready to get underway, according to Gilchrist. “You should see some progress happening with the building by the end of the year,” she said. Other projects should be advancing as well.
“But we need the citizens and the people to know that we’re open, and we need them,” she said. “We need the city; we need the community; we need the Valley to help us with that recovery.”
Pictured at top: Kim Patrone, sales manager at DoubleTree by Hilton Youngtown Downtown.