Officials Work on Plan to ‘Reimagine’ Downtown Youngstown

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – As demolition of the Realty Tower nears completion, city officials work on a plan to reestablish downtown as a destination location.

“We’re continuing to repair our infrastructure downtown,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said at a news conference Monday at the Covelli Centre. “Some of our streets are open – not a lot of them are open – as we speak. We’re going to continue to work on the traffic flow moving forward.”

Bid documents have been sent out to get the Commerce Street project moving, he said. 

“Market and Federal – we’ve put out bid documents so that once the construction site is clear, we can reestablish that road again,” the mayor said. 

The city knows the project needs to be done. The legal department will determine later who should reimburse the city for the work, Brown said.

“We want to get the flow of downtown open, and as we get an opportunity to do so, we’ll do that as well,” he said.

Work on Boardman Street is progressing quickly, he added.

“All those that we’re trying to make sure Commerce, Boardman, Market Street, as well as Federal – we want to get to East Federal eventually,” Brown said. “That’s why you’ll see legislation that we’re requesting to get those things working in the immediate future.”

A May 28 gas explosion at Realty Tower killed one man, Akil Drake, injured several others and displaced building residents. International Towers, located next to Realty, also was evacuated due to concerns about Realty collapsing.

The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office determined blunt force trauma was the cause of Drake’s death. He was an employee of the Chase Bank location on Realty’s first floor. His family is suing the building ownership, property management company and gas company. Realty residents and International Towers residents have also filed lawsuits stemming from the explosion.

The city, along with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, is working on the economic recovery of downtown, the mayor said.

“We believe this is an opportunity for all of us to get on one accord and with one voice,” he said. 

Brown also acknowledged a need to restore relationships with downtown businesses and to let people know downtown is open for customers to patronize businesses for lunch, nightlife and events.

First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver, whose ward includes downtown, thanked all of the charitable and social service agencies that have been involved with helping downtown residents since the explosion.

“At this point, the mayor and I have been able to come together and match visions and sync up what we see as far as reimagining downtown Youngstown,” he said. 

They want people to relive nostalgic moments when they think about downtown and it being a place to come to have a good time.

“We want to reimagine downtown and take it back to that era,” he said. “We want everybody coming down with their friends, their family and enjoy everything from Oh Wow to the Covelli Centre to the amphitheater to the Federal restaurant. We want to open up downtown to you and to see that downtown is open.”

Guy Coviello, Regional Chamber president and CEO, said his organization, like many others, is committed to downtown.

“We’ve assembled a group of business leaders who are helping to make sure we make decisions about the future,” he said.

And they’re not looking back on events like Covid, construction or building demolition, Coviello said.

“We’re focused on a downtown that is opening up to business,” he said. “We’ll probably announce here very shortly a series of events that’s going to drive people downtown, bring people from outside, to support our retail establishments.”

Earlier this month, city officials announced a relaunch of downtown, expected in October, as a kickoff to plans. Those plans include a potential establishment of a designated outdoor refreshment area. The city also received three submissions in response to a request for proposals for strategic planning and marketing for downtown.

Long-term, the chamber is looking at the economic development of downtown and to capitalize on the momentum that’s already happening, Coviello said.

He pointed to Steelite International, which moved its headquarters to downtown, the first in 68 years, as well as Zoetic Global, which is opening a factory downtown. He believes those are models for other businesses to locate there. 

And soon the chamber will announce international trade missions to downtown, Coviello said. It’s examining how it fits into the housing strategy for the Mahoning Valley and the chamber’s workforce strategy.

“I think that we are at a turning point,” he said, thanking the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, which led the effort to help the people displaced by the explosion. “I want to reassure that the Chamber is here to help the businesses.”

Bob Hannon, United Way president, pointed to the other agencies that worked on the effort, particularly in relocating International Towers residents because of concerns about Realty collapsing. Those agencies include Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, Catholic Charities, Goodwill, Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership, management of International Towers, Flying High and Youngstown State University students.

“United Way was a small piece,” he said. “We might have been the lead, but these groups all came together to make it happen.”

He said the 55 people relocated from International to the Baymont hotel in Boardman are resilient and some of the happiest people he’s been around. 

“In my time at United Way, this is probably one of the proudest things we’ve been involved in,” Hannon said. “Because collaboration is tough. Who gets the credit? Who takes the lead? Who’s out in front? That never came up.”

Steelite also is donating dinnerware to International Towers residents.

The building ownership hasn’t announced plans for the site.

“It is with hope for the future that we remain committed to the Realty Tower site. We have every intention of continuing our legacy of paying homage to Youngstown’s history while moving it toward a vibrant future,” Live Youngstown/YO 47 said in a statement. “The redevelopment of this site will be an extensive process. In the interim, the site will be leveled and will remain vacant as we begin the lengthy process of reimagining and planning a new project worthy of this historic site.”

Brown said he, as well as others in the community, want the Realty Tower site to remain a central focal point of downtown. 

As demolition of the building nears completion, trucks are going to begin removing debris from the site, he said. The city plans a celebration of downtown soon, although a date hasn’t been set.

Pictured at top: From left are Guy Coviello; Mayor Jamael Tito Brown; Bob Hannon; Theresa Knapik and Cassandra Valentini, both of Direction Home of Eastern Ohio; and Shelia Triplett, CEO of Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.