Warren/Trumbull CIC Markets Former RG Steel Building

WARREN, Ohio — A potential tenant is interested in space in the former RG Steel computer center and sales building,  the Community Improvement Corporation of Warren and Trumbull County’s board of directors learned Tuesday.

The prospect is looking at half of one of the two floors of the approximately 57,000-square-foot building, said Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber. The chamber has a contract to manage the CIC.

Humphries could not say what business sector the potential tenant represented, citing confidentiality concerns.

“People have expressed interest in it,” he affirmed.

The CIC has owned the building since Dec. 31, 2014, when BDM Steel Holdings gave the property to the CIC.

“Because we nurtured a relationship with BDM, were able to have this gifted to the CIC,” said Mayor Doug Franklin, a member of the CIC board.

The chamber has engaged a site selector with experience to market the building as well as several other local properties, including one in Hubbard Township and sites in Mahoning County, Humphries said.

Gaining control of the former RG Steel building,  Pine Avenue Southeast, triggered reactivation and “refocusing” of the CIC, which had been dormant, Humphries said.

“Over the past year-plus we’ve been trying to review the bylaws and bring them current,” he said.

The board is composed of eight public sector members –  Franklin, Trumbull County’s three commissioners and representatives of the Western Reserve Port Authority and the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments – and seven private sector members yet to be formally nominated.

Warren Attorney John Pogue, who has served as the CIC’s president, will step off the board once the new members are in place.

Pogue characterized his service with the CIC as a “labor of love” and expressed optimism regarding the CIC’s future efforts with the reorganization and the acquisition of the RG Steel building.

“Good things are going to happen,” he remarked.

Franklin also is optimistic. “Obviously we’re excited to be engaged with the CIC,” he said. “It represents a lot of potential job creation opportunities and business development.”

The CIC has the resources and talent, “and in partnership with the chamber it’s sort of like the perfect marriage, not only for this building but for other economic development activities throughout the county,” the mayor said.

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