YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Plans to redevelop the former Chill Can site on the city’s East Side could face potential complications, since not all of the land is in the city’s possession.
Records from the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office show that Mitchell Joseph, chairman and CEO of Joseph Co. International, still personally owns two small parcels at the 21-acre site. And, Scott Berger, a former executive of one of Joseph’s companies also owns two parcels at the location, data show.
The four lots were not included in a sheriff’s sale conducted in February in which the city was the sole bidder on 86 parcels that comprise most of the site.
That’s because a foreclosure action, initially filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by MS Consultants Inc. in January 2023 against M.J. Joseph Development Co., included just those parcels owned by M.J. Joseph Development and no others.
Joseph Development Co. was the affiliate charged with building a proposed $18.8 million campus to manufacture and conduct research on self-chilling beverage cans.
The project failed to move forward, and three buildings at the site sit vacant, triggering a protracted legal battle between the city and the developer.
An exhibit filed with the court shows that 86 parcels were subject to foreclosure, all of them owned by M.J. Development, not those owned by Joseph or Berger personally.
The city ultimately joined the foreclosure case, asserting a court judgment that it was owed $1.5 million from M.J. Joseph Development Co. because of a breach-of-contract dispute.
The 86 parcels were placed up for auction Feb. 18, and the city submitted the winning – and only – bid of $1,379,580, or two-thirds of the Mahoning County auditor’s appraisal value. A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court approved the sale in July.
However, auditor’s documents show that Joseph still owns two small contiguous vacant parcels – they total just one-quarter of an acre – along North Lane Avenue at the southern end of the property. Records show Joseph purchased the first lot at 23 North Lane Ave. on Feb. 17, 2016, for $3,000, from the trustee of Elizabeth Penn.
He acquired the second parcel from Joyce Powell on March 10, 2016, for $3,000.
Though real estate taxes on the parcels are minimal – less than $16 annually for each – auditor’s records show that one of the parcels is delinquent $20.63, while the second Joseph lot is delinquent $28.88.
The purchases were conducted approximately eight months before Joseph announced the Chill Can project.
The land that is owned by Berger, a former vice president at M.J. Joseph Development Co., could pose more complications for the city, according to auditor’s records.
Data show that Berger acquired two parcels totaling just more than two-tenths of an acre along Lane Avenue on Aug. 31, 2015, from Ted Terlesky, more than a year before the project was announced. Berger paid $3,000 apiece for the parcels. No delinquencies are listed on either property.
However, Berger’s parcels extend directly through the middle of one of the buildings – an aluminum warehouse-like structure on the west side of North Lane. The building is closer to the northern entrance of the property along Oak Street.
It’s unclear whether these parcels could inhibit any redevelopment at the site or what the city’s options are to acquire these lots.
The city’s law department declined to comment on the matter.
However, City Council is expected to consider legislation Wednesday evening to renew and amend its agreement with the Western Reserve Port Authority that designates city-owned properties for redevelopment, including the Chill Can site.
The legislation stipulates that the WRPA “is willing to assist the city of Youngstown in development of said properties and is willing to acquire the properties from the city for the purpose of creating economic development opportunities, improving jobs, and improving the economic vitality of the city of Youngstown.”
Other sites include 20 Federal Place, the former Republic Rubber site on Albert Street, and the South High Field House property.
Chill Can Case
It’s the latest wrinkle in an odyssey that began a decade ago, as city officials and developer Mitchell Joseph – a Youngstown native who now lives in California – began to assemble land on the East Side to make room for the proposed Chill Can project.
The land includes approximately 21 acres of small parcels – some of which were occupied and privately owned – that is bound by Oak Street to the north, Himrod Avenue to the south, Fruit Street to the east and the Madison Avenue expressway to the west.
In October 2016, Joseph told The Business Journal that his company planned to construct an approximately $20 million campus at the site to support manufacturing and research of self-chilling beverage cans and other products.
The venture promised to create 237 jobs by August 2021, per a development agreement it signed with the city in 2017, which awarded the project a $1.5 million development grant. The project never reported hiring more than two employees.
The city also incurred another $733,480.80 in acquisition, demolition and relocation costs associated with the development.
Four years into the project, work at the site came to a halt as the developer continued to miss deadlines to complete the campus.
Anticipating court action from the city, M.J. Joseph filed a complaint in May 2021, alleging the city did not have the authority to collect monetary damages nor 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.
Judge Maureen Sweeney ultimately ruled in favor of the city, awarding restitution of $1.5 million and sanctions totaling another $733,480.80.
MS Consultants filed its 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 joined.
M.J. Joseph’s attorneys then withdrew their representation as the legal matter progressed, and in May 2024 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.
The foreclosure action proceeded, culminating in the sheriff’s sale in February.
M.J. Joseph responded by walking away from the project entirely. The company’s phone lines in California are disconnected, and its website is no longer active.