NILES, Ohio – An updated comprehensive plan implemented last year will help the city promote downtown and neighborhood revitalization, quality of life initiatives and economic development.
The updated plan, the first since 2003, sets the city’s framework for the years to come, Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz says. “The largest and most recognizable project commenced in 2024 with the demolition of the Robbins Theater,” he says.
The demolition was funded by a state grant and was followed by a $3.5 million Appalachian Community Grant that will go toward the Niles Riverfront Revitalization project. Features include a new public square, a revitalized canoe/kayak launch site and park and rehabilitation of the former Masonic Temple.
The project is in the detailed design phase and is scheduled to break ground this summer, with completion by fall 2026, Mientkiewicz says.
This spring will bring the opening of the community splashpad, new playground, updated athletics fields, community gazebo, concrete/road repairs and other features in Waddell Park, according to the mayor.
A $2.5 million street resurfacing program planned for this year will cover roughly 35 streets and follows a record $3.7 million resurfacing investment in 2024, he says.
A $300,000 state earmark and contributions from Trumbull County will help to address a long-standing problem with painting two of the four train bridges downtown.
“The city looks forward to the start of construction of a planned housing development near Grace Church,” Mientkiewicz adds.
Pictured: Trumbull County Courthouse in Warren. Jack W. Pearce, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.