YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The owner of the former Dorian Books building on the North Side said Tuesday he plans to spend in excess of $1 million to renovate the building for residential and retail space.
“We’re looking to take this back to what it was originally,” said Richard Yankel, architect for the project. A total of eight apartments will make up the second and third floors of the building, which was constructed in 1925.
The ground floor retail space will be operated as a convenience store, Frank Singh of BJSJ Family LLC said. His company operates other convenient stores in Warren and Youngstown, he said.
The city’s Design Review Committee gave conditional approval for BJSJ’s request to repair broken windows on the building and to install a 3,746-square-foot parking lot and a ramp on the south side of the building adjacent to the handicap parking spaces.
Approval is contingent on securing zoning board approval for the map, which would encroach on existing sidewalk right-of-way.
“What I would do is take the sidewalk and just bend it out,” Yankel said. The ramp can’t go on the north side of the building because it is too close to the property line.
The parking lot also would need to comply with any stormwater requirements, and Singh would need to seek the committee’s approval for any further signage or façade changes.
“As soon as we get the approvals, we are looking to dive straight into it,” Singh said. The total cost for what is planned for the building is in excess of $1 million.
Other Business
In other business, the committee approved a $5,422 grant for DT-1 Enterprises LLC to replace three wood windows at 217 W. Federal St. with black aluminum framed windows and to replace damaged exterior lighting at the front and rear of the building. The total project cost is $10,844.
The front lights will include two LED floodlights to provide uplighting and one LED light over the front door. Rear lights will include two LED coach lights and one LED light over the basement door.
DT-1’s Travis Pownell said the buildings on West Federal, especially the older ones like his, “look beautiful” when they are uplit in the evening. “I may even try to get some color lenses in there so I could change it out for holidays and everything like that,” he said.
In addition, the committee approved a request by St. John’s Episcopal Church, 323 Wick Ave., to replace its existing metal sign with a 48-inch-by-72-inch digital sign.
The existing sign requires regular maintenance and is in poor repair, parishioner Chester Amedia Jr. said. Because rectors and services change, the sign is difficult to maintain and keep looking presentable. The proposed digital sign is consistent with the sign used by the nearby Butler Institute of American Art, he added.
The project also would involve removing another existing sign that is parallel to Wick Avenue, and the stone façade of the base of the new sign would match an adjacent stone pylon.