TNP to Build New Homes on Former School Property

WARREN, Ohio – Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, a nonprofit community development corporation, has plans to construct four new single-family homes at the former Devon School site in the city’s southeastern quad.

“These will be the first ones that we’ve done on our own,” said Matt Martin, TNP executive director.

Martin said the Warren City School District supports TNP’s proposal, and noted he’s hopeful that a final resolution could be approved at a future board meeting. He added that preliminary testing could begin at the site, but there is still some legal processes to complete before the organization can obtain the title to the property and start construction.

“We’re looking at starting construction after the first of the year,” he said, adding that the homes should be finished by fall 2025.

The Devon School was razed in 2010 and has since been converted into greenspace. The 3-acre site – bordered by Central Parkway Avenue to the west, Trumbull Avenue to the east and Devon Street to the north – is perfect for a project such as this, since it’s nestled in a neighborhood and large enough to accommodate between six and eight houses.

Moreover, TNP’s proposal cites that “the surrounding neighborhood is stable with higher rates of home ownership. It is projected that the neighborhood’s existing real estate trends will support the sale of the new homes at fair market value.”

Preliminary plans are to construct homes with a first-floor bedroom, bathroom and laundry to ensure the properties are suited for a range of qualified buyers, TNP said. These homes would complement the architecture of existing houses in the neighborhood.

This year, the Ohio Department of Development Welcome Home program awarded the Trumbull County Land Bank a $700,000 grant toward a $1.2 million project to construct four single-family homes that would be sold to qualified buyers, according to TNP.  

The project is based on recommendations from an updated Southeast Warren Neighborhood Plan, which showed an improvement in overall neighborhood conditions, a reduced number of vacant homes citywide, and a higher quality occupied housing stock, TNP’s proposal said.

“There’s a need for quality, affordable units,” Martin said. “We’ve been mapping this out for more than a decade.”

For 14 years, TNP has partnered with the land bank to spearhead community improvement initiatives in Trumbull County that included rehabilitation and demolition, Martin said. Now, TNP will direct more attention to new construction, he noted.

“We’ll be able to focus on more new construction and less on demolition,” Martin said. “For us, this is the pilot phase of what we plan to be doing over the next decade,” he said of the Devon School development.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.