YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Another new bar is coming to the Youngstown State University campus area, and a parking issue has arisen between an existing brewery and its neighbor.
The city’s design review committee took action on both at its meeting Tuesday morning.
Work will soon begin to turn a long-vacant building at 218 W. Rayen Ave. into B-Side. The bar will be owned by Hadi Hadi, who already owns a Bull & Bear restaurant a block away at Elm Street and Lincoln Avenue.
B-Side will be in the building next to the vacant Pogo’s Pub building, which Hadi also owns and is currently renovating to reopen as a bar-restaurant with the same name. B-Side and Pogo’s will share a patio when both are open.
The design review committee approved its request for facade improvements, including new or improved windows, landscaping and a 4-foot-by-8-foot metal sign bearing the bar’s name that will be mounted above the front entrance and illuminated by gooseneck light fixtures.
Debris and overgrown shrubs behind the building will be removed in the near future, said Beth Baker, who represented Hadi at the meeting.
Baker said she will return to the committee in spring 2027 with another facade request to replace some windows on the west-facing wall and turn others into glass-block panels.
Valley Foods
The committee also ordered the removal of a wall of concrete barriers from the perimeter of the Valley Food Systems parking lot, 461 E. Federal St., downtown.
The barriers, which were put in place last week, block the entrance to the lot, which is used on weekends mainly by patrons of Penguin City Brewing, which is across the street.
Committee members told Linda Giambattista, COO of Valley Foods, to remove the barriers within 30 days and asked her to submit a new plan for an aesthetically pleasing barrier at next month’s meeting. Describing the barriers as an eyesore at the busy intersection, the committee members will send its guidelines for compliant fencing to Giambattista.
Valley Foods never sought permission from the city to erect the barrier.
Giambattista said she found it necessary because parked cars occasionally prevented her company from using its trucks. As an example, she said on St. Patrick’s Day, which was a Tuesday, brewery patrons filled the lot during daytime hours, preventing trucks from leaving.
Giambattista said Valley Foods has contracts with government agencies that cannot be altered. She also complained of finding empty bottles and other trash in the lot on some Monday mornings.
Another problem is that tractor-trailer operators occasionally use the lot as an overnight sleeping location without permission, she said.
The parking problem had come up in the past.
In 2021, Valley Foods submitted a proposal to the design review committee to put a fence around its lot. The committee tabled the request because the proposed fence was not compliant with its requirements. It made suggestions for an alternative fencing plan but never heard back from Valley Foods.
Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki, co-owner of Penguin City Brewing, said her patrons have used the Valley Foods lot for years and her staff workers clean it after busy nights, with the exception of one time when they were unable to.
In the past week, Penguin City customers have been parking along Boardman Street and in neighboring lots, including some that charge a fee.
Lyras-Bernacki said she is trying to work with Valley Foods to reach an agreement under which brewery patrons can use the lot on weekends, when Penguin City’s own lot quickly fills.
Parking is always an issue downtown, she said, adding that businesses that allow their neighbors to use their lots in the evening is a positive way of working together to advance downtown revitalization.
Other Action
In other action at its meeting, the design review committee:
- Approved a facade grant of $7,854 for Stambaugh Auditorium for a project valued at twice that amount to repair a flagpole base and part of the structure’s front concrete staircase along Fifth Avenue, which were damaged in a traffic accident two years ago.
- Approved a request for roof replacement and facade improvement on the roof of the former Vindicator building, 107 Vindicator Square. The building will be transformed into the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense with YBI handling the construction and management.
Pictured at top: A rendering of the new B-Side bar in Youngstown.