YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Members of City Council will consider late legislation Wednesday to seek proposals for the former Bottom Dollar Food property on the South Side.
The ordinance, sponsored by Councilwoman Cynthia McWilson, 6th Ward, would authorize the city’s Board of Control to issue a request for proposals for redevelopment of the property, 2649 Glenwood Ave.
After reacquiring the closed grocery store building from Aldi Inc., the city entered into an agreement with One Health Ohio to open a clinic in the shuttered grocery store building but reclaimed the building – which has been vacant since 2015 – in 2023. City officials subsequently spent about $1.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds to accommodate the Village of Healing, an infant mortality clinic that was to be the main tenant in a proposed community hub, another plan that ultimately was not fulfilled.
“We have had interest from various sectors,” most notably the Mahoning County Board of Elections, said Demaine Kitchen, the city’s director of community planning and economic development. “The purpose of the RFP is for us to see exactly what interest actually exists, and then we will evaluate it from there.”
Bottom Dollar Food opened the grocery store in February 2012, one of three that opened in Youngstown. The store was built on the site of the former Cleveland Elementary School and an adjacent playground. It closed in 2014.
Built in 2011, the building was constructed as a retail/grocery store in 2011, with a nearly 20-foot ceiling and full utilities, according to the RFP package. The building’s interior is more than 1,800 square feet and sits on nearly 5 acres.
If the ordinance is approved, the requirements to submit a proposal will include confirmation that the respondent will purchase and redevelop the property; summary of qualifications; description of past or current projects undertaken; narrative of proposed improvements and investments in the property; estimated resulting job creation and economic impact; and evidence to support financing capacity and the financial strength/capacity to complete the proposed redevelopment.
Responses would be due by Aug. 12.