YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Hours before shovels were digging into the dirt for the ceremonial groundbreaking at the new Youngstown Technology Park, real estate agents were getting inquiries about space there, its developer said.
Representatives of Top Property Holdings welcomed state, regional and local leaders for an event Tuesday to mark the start of construction of a 50,400-square-foot speculative building. It is the first building at the new Exal Court business park, which is being developed on 12 acres of property acquired from the city of Youngstown, which also funded infrastructure improvements at the site.
The building had been listed earlier in the day by Platz Realty Group on LoopNet, and representatives already had received a few calls, said Greg Toporcer, owner of Top Property Holdings. He predicted that the space would have at least one or two tenants lined up by the building’s May 2027 scheduled completion.
“We are ready. We are ready to bring business to Youngstown,” he told guests gathered under the tent near where contractors already were at work.
The nearly $4.8 million building now being constructed represents the first phase of a planned 200,000 square feet of Class A space for light manufacturing and distribution, he said. The building will be 32 feet high and is designed to be subdivided. “So we can fill the thing with one tenant or we can fill it with multiple tenants,” he said.
“In economic development, speed wins deals,” said Amanda Schwartz, program manager with the sites team at JobsOhio.
“When a company is ready to move, the company or the community with a building ready to go will win, but speculative buildings are among the hardest projects to get started,” she continued. “Building without a committed tenant takes vision and a lot of risk.”
JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development organization, worked in collaboration with Lake to River Economic Development, the regional JobsOhio partner, to provide nearly $2.4 million in grants and loans to support the industrial park project through its Ohio Site Inventory program, Schwartz said. To date, Ohio has invested nearly $200 million though OSIP, leveraging about $2.7 billion in private investment.
Earlier this year, Top Property Group celebrated the completion of its first building at North Jackson Commerce Park, a spec building where Shapes Unlimited now has its headquarters, production facility and warehouse. “Greg has shown us this model works,” she said.
“Here’s what I’d like to say to everyone today: We need more Gregs,” said Dani Robbins, Lake to River’s CEO.
Lake to River – which is tasked with being “the first call when a company is looking to grow or relocate,” is working on “a pipeline of projects” representing $3.6 billion in potential investment, more than 2,365 jobs and $127 million in new payroll, she continued.
“Those are real companies with real timelines, and very often the first question they ask is a simple one: What do you have available right now?” she said. “Too often, our answer has been, ‘not enough.’ A company on a compressed timeline can’t wait 18 months for a building to go up, and if we can’t show them space, they find it somewhere else.”
Mayor Derrick McDowell said he considers land within Youngstown’s borders sacred because it is “intended to service” the community. Long before Tuesday’s event, much ground was being broken in rooms in City Hall involving the administration and City Council, as well as with Top Property.
“We have been breaking ground with one another. That’s what we had to do to arrive at this moment,” he remarked. “This ground that we so covet after, we understand, comes with great responsibility and stewardship.”
Other partners in the project included the Western Reserve Port Authority, which entered into an agreement for a capital lease with Top Property to assist the project.
“Top Properties’ new project is a vote of confidence in the future of Youngstown,” Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, said in a text message following the event. “We’re proud to support investment that puts property to work, creates new opportunities and adds to the momentum we’re seeing across the Mahoning Valley.
The site represented “a great development opportunity,” said Councilman Mike Ray, 4th Ward, one of the guests attending the ceremony. The city’s industrial parks play “a vital role” in the city.
“People talk about the city we used to be and old steel properties. There aren’t old steel properties. There aren’t brownfield sites in the city of Youngstown,” he said. “These are industrial parks that are thriving, and they’re great places to do business, and the locations can’t be better.”
Like Toporcer, DeMaine Kitchen, director of community planning and economic development for Youngstown, said he already is receiving “significant interest” in the space and is awaiting Phase 2 of the project.
“The phone is ringing,” he remarked. “This project signifies that Youngstown is still a great opportunity for business. It’s a great opportunity for workforce and for manufacturing.”
When Top Property will move onto Phase 2 at Youngstown Technology Park is yet to be determined, Toporcer said. The developer plans on starting on a 100,000-square-foot speculative building in July, but it would either be in Youngstown or at the North Jackson park.
“Any time there’s a spec building available, it changes the game,” Robbins said.
Pictured at top: From left are Dani Robbins, Mayor Derrick McDowell, Greg Toporcer, Lori Toporcer, Sam Huston, Sam Orr and Amanda Schwartz.