Second Auction for Chase Tower Closes with $875,000 Bid
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Chase Tower in downtown Youngstown hit the auction block for the second time this year, with bidding closing Wednesday with a winning bid of $875,000.
Andrea Delgado, asset manager with Ten-X Commercial, an online commercial real estate exchange that conducted the auction, confirmed the closing bid. Citing confidentiality, she could not provide other details about the transaction, including the identity of the winning bidder or the status of the transaction.
The building is owned by the Cleveland-based Frangos Group.
The bid was just over three-quarters of the $1.15 million bid for the 135,300-square-foot tower submitted during an auction that ran April 19 to 21. That sale fell through when the Florida-based redevelopment investment group sought an extension and ultimately forfeited a “substantial nonrefundable payment” made to get the extension, according to Lou Frangos, chairman of the Frangos Group.
The starting bid for the 14-floor tower Monday was $400,000. Bidding later that day reached $600,000, where it hovered for more than a day until Wednesday afternoon, when shortly before 1 p.m. it hit $700,000, with the Ten-X site still indicating that the reserve hadn’t been met.
Built in 1928 and designed by Walker & Weeks Architects, the 135,300-square-foot tower has 128,741 square feet of rentable space, according to the property description on the Ten-X website. Other features of the property include the “historic and grand banking hall” occupied until recently by Chase Bank.
About 26% of the building is now leased. Earlier this year, Chase relocated its downtown Youngstown branch from the building to the Realty Tower.
The second auction of the property comes as the fate of two other large downtown properties remains up in the air. Last month, Youngstown finance director Kyle Miasek indicated City Council could have an agreement with a developer to purchase and redevelop 20 Federal Place, which is adjacent to the Chase Tower. More recently, Huntington National Bank disclosed plans to sell the Mahoning National Bank building after it relocates its downtown Youngstown branch this fall.
Another former bank building, 16 Wick, has been vacant for several years. PNC Bank moved its branch from the longtime home of Dollar Bank and later National City Bank in 2011. It is owned by LY Property Management, which also owns several residential properties downtown and near Youngstown State University.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
