STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Jefferson County commissioners are asking a judge to activate a clause in a 1967 contract that would return a former Eastern Gateway Community College building to them.
A hearing on the motion for summary judgment is set for September.
Commissioner Eric Timmons said commissioners want the property returned in a timely manner.
“It was supposed to happen all along,” he said.
In 1967, then-Jefferson County commissioners executed a deed to Eastern Gateway forerunner Jefferson County Technical Institute for the building at 4000 Sunset Blvd. That deed conveyed the building to the college with a reverter clause indicating the building was to be used for educational purposes. It also said “if said premises are not used for educational purposes or if said premises cease to be used for educational purposes, title shall revert” to the county.
Eastern Gateway, which operated its main campus in Steubenville and another in downtown Youngstown, shut down in 2024 amid financial and accreditation challenges.
“Personally, I’d like to see education stay in there,” Timmons said.
Since Eastern Gateway’s closure, Youngstown State University administrators have eyed opening a Jefferson County campus, securing authorization from the Higher Learning Commission to do it. YSU officials have expressed interest in using the building formerly occupied by Eastern Gateway.
Timmons acknowledged YSU’s interest in the building but said other educational institutions that he declined to identify are interested in the building too.
The state budget approved and signed by the governor earlier this month includes a provision for up to $2.5 million in fiscal year 2026 from Super Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills funding to be distributed to YSU for assistance with enrolling new students and taking over building operations from Eastern Gateway, according to information distributed to media members by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Earlier this month, a YSU spokeswoman said by email that the $2.5 million earmark “represents funding allocated to Youngstown State University to support and create educational programs and fill the void following Eastern Gateway Community College’s closure. The earmark encompasses YSU’s broader institutional response to serve students previously enrolled at Eastern Gateway, regardless of the physical location where these educational programs are delivered.”
Last month, the Eastern Gateway Community College Governance Authority, the body appointed to oversee the college’s closure, voted to sell both downtown Youngstown buildings owned and formerly operated by the now-defunct college. The downtown Youngstown buildings are the former Harshman Building at 101 E. Boardman St., which housed classrooms and offices, and the parking garage at 101 E. Federal St., which houses first-floor office space and is home to Mocha House Youngstown.
Also last month, the Western Reserve Port Authority authorized its executive director to negotiate the acquisition of the downtown buildings and to execute a purchase agreement for the properties.
According to appraisals obtained by the WRPA, the Harshman building is valued at $800,000. The parking garage, according to those appraisals, however, has a negative value. The parking garage needs about $18 million in repairs, according to WRPA estimates, and the port authority expects to raze it.
The summary judgment motion was filed in a 2024 civil case Jefferson County commissioners brought against Eastern Gateway to regain possession of the building. The judge in that case stayed the reverter clause, citing a federal judge’s order that prevented transfer of Eastern Gateway property. The federal judge’s order was part of a civil lawsuit brought against the college by the company that formerly operated its free college benefit program.
That case has been settled, and the order preventing property transfer has been vacated. Jefferson commissioners argue in their latest filing that the stay on the proceedings in their 2024 motion is likewise terminated.