Sheriff’s Sale Scheduled for Chill Can Site
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The 22-acre site of the failed Chill Can project on the city’s east side is scheduled for sheriff’s sale Nov. 11 and Nov. 26, according to papers filed with the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Documents show that Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene approved the sale schedule Sept. 19 and the court papers were filed the following day.
The action comes after the court ruled last month in favor of the city of Youngstown and MS Consultants, an architectural and engineering firm with offices in the city, in a foreclosure case against M.J. Joseph Development Corp., the Chill Can project’s developer.
Under the order, M.J. Joseph had three days to repay the city $1.5 million and MS Consultants $322,907.54, plus interest. The company failed to pay, and the court ordered the foreclosure and instructed the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a sheriff’s sale.
Three appraisers were hired at $100 apiece to assess the land and buildings at the site, documents show. However, each was unable to issue a value on the property, citing that the city and Scott Berger, an individual who at one time served as a vice president for the developer, owned parcels where at least one of the buildings stand, according to court documents.
These entities therefore have a vested interest in the property, according to appraisers’ notes filed with the court.
The Mahoning County Auditor appraises the land and three buildings at $1.993 million for tax purposes, according to its website.
Proceeds from the sale of the site would be used to repay the lienholders – namely the city, MS Consultants and the Mahoning County Treasurer for tax delinquencies on the property.
“We should definitely take it back,” Councilman Julius Oliver, 1st Ward, said Monday.
Oliver said the site would make a prime development location for either a private company, a safety forces campus, a grocery store or perhaps an indoor sports facility for the city’s youths.
“There are a lot of opportunities,” he said.
Calls to city development officials seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The sale would finally bring an end to an eight-year odyssey that began in 2016 when Mitchell Joseph, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based M.J. Joseph Development and Joseph Co. International, announced the company would invest nearly $20 million to build a campus dedicated to research, development and manufacturing of self-chilling beverage cans and related technologies.
M.J. Joseph and the city signed development agreements that awarded the developer $1.5 million in wastewater grants for the project, as well as tax breaks. In return, the developer was to create 237 jobs.
Although three buildings were constructed at the site, not a single “chill can” was ever produced, and the company reported just two jobs created. That triggered in 2021 a lengthy legal battle between the city and M.J. Joseph.
Anticipating court action, M.J. Joseph filed a complaint in June 2021 against the city, alleging the city did not have the authority to collect monetary damages or was entitled to the land. The city countersued for $2.8 million, demanding a refund of its development grant, relocation and acquisition expenses and computed lost income tax revenue.
MS Consultants filed a complaint in January 2023 seeking $322,907.80 from M.J. Joseph, arguing it was not paid for work it completed at the project site.
After a court ruled against M.J. Joseph, MS Consultants filed a separate foreclosure action, which the city ultimately joined.
In the meantime, M.J. Joseph’s attorneys withdrew their representation, and in May, the court closed out the city’s litigation against the developer, as the city deemed it unlikely it would ever collect its money. MS Consultants had earlier voluntarily dismissed its case against the company.
M.J. Joseph and its CEO have essentially walked away from all litigation and the entire project. The company’s website is no longer active, nor are its phone lines.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
