Chamber to Renew Lease at Downtown Offices

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber announced late Monday that it will keep its headquarters on the 15th and 16th floors of the First National Bank Tower downtown and sign a 10-year lease.

The chamber said its decision follows “six months of exploring various leasing and building options in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.”

While details of the new agreement will be finalized in the next 30 days, it will result in significant savings, the chamber said.

The lease with Youngstown First National Holdings LLC, based in New York City, expires Dec. 31.

Chamber leaders “spent several months reviewing all options to ensure the best location for its offices in the future,” according to the announcement. “Those options included leasing and building in Mahoning County for the Youngstown office team, as well as consolidating Youngstown and Warren offices into one at the Eastwood Mall in Niles.”

The Warren office at 197 W. Market St. will retain the chamber’s economic development department, while incoming president and CEO James Dignan, the finance, sales and services, events and marketing staff will remain in Youngstown.

Said Tom Humphries, who will retire Jan. 1 as chamber president and CEO, “We feel that our presence is critical to each county we serve, and that has been our position since the chambers merged in 1993.”

Humphries expressed his gratitude to the Cafaro Co., “which made the first — and very generous — offer early on when the chamber first began to review its options,” the chamber said.

“That offer spawned a number of competitive proposals from others in the Valley,” Humphries added in a prepared statement.

Pictured above: First National Bank Tower in downtown Youngstown is the tallest building between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Photo by Sherman Cahal Works.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.