YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Representatives of the owner and management firm for the former Realty Tower say they expect to have renderings by spring or summer to show the community plans for a new mixed-use building to be constructed at the site.
Developer Brian Angelilli, principal of YO Properties 47 LLC, and Dominic Marchionda, principal at LY Property Management, which managed the building, both said they are committed to moving forward with constructing a new building on the site of the demolished building.
“You’ll see something go up there soon as we can put that dream and plan together,” Angelilli said.
YO Properties 47 is exploring all options for the site, but the intent is to “move forward with some type of development on that site,” Marchionda said.
“We’re not exactly sure what yet, but it will definitely be a mixed-use project if we move forward with it,” he continued.
“I’m just starting that process of conceptual design,” Angelilli said. “I’m hoping to have renderings out by spring or summer so we get feedback from the community, but we’re committed to it.”
Completed in 1924, the Realty Tower was demolished following a May 28 natural gas explosion that destroyed most of the building’s first floor, damaged its upper floors and resulted in the death of an employee of the Chase Bank branch located on the ground floor.
Features being considered for the proposed mixed-use project include ground-floor retail space and potentially a banquet-type facility on the second floor, Marchionda said. Upper levels of the building would have 12 to 18 residential units, though whether they would be offered for sale or rent hasn’t been determined yet, he and Angelilli said.
“We know it’s going to be housing. We’re just not certain what type of offering we’re going to have,” Marchionda said.
Building a new building at the Realty site will be “a little bit more complicated” than redeveloping the Legal Arts Centre, which Angelilli also owns.
“It’s ground up, and the cost will be significant,” he acknowledged. “We would need to tie a lot of support and funding mechanisms together to make it a viable project, but we’re not walking away from it.”
Pictured at top: The site of the former Realty Tower building. (File, October 2024)