Youngstown Hires Architect for Smart2 Vault Work
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The city’s Board of Control approved a contract with a local architect Thursday morning for design services related to the underground storage vaults attached to buildings on East and West Federal streets between Phelps and Champion streets.
A Neider Architecture LLC, Canfield, will put together a criteria package that will be bid out to design-build firms, principal Annissa Neider said.
“We’re looking to finish at the beginning of next year so that we could get a contractor ready to go in the springtime,” Neider said. “We’re going to be working with all the businesses and building owners as part of our scope.”
Because of the presence of the underground vaults for the buildings and discovery of the extent that they extend into the city’s right-of-way, the city is removing the affected sections of West and West Federal streets from its contract with Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. for its portion of the Smart2 – or Strategic & Sustainable, Medical & Manufacturing, Academic & Arts, Residential & Recreational, Technology & Training – Network project.
The original design-build contract with Marucci & Gaffney, awarded in 2021, was worth $15.8 million. A $45,991 amendment to the contract approved by the board of control Thursday morning brings the contract to nearly $16.3 million, the planned deduction to the contract not having been made yet.
In other business, the board – which consists of Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, Law Director Jeff Limbian and Finance Director Kyle Miasek – approved agreements to support an expansion at P&L Metalcrafts LLC, 1050 Ohio Works Drive.
The specialty metal fabricator, which specializes in stainless steel, aluminum and regular steel fabrication, outlined plans in May for a 13,000-square-foot addition, renovation of the offices in its existing 12,500-square-foot building and new equipment. Owned by Charlie Pizanias and Gus Lyras, the company is planning to invest more than $5.7 million in the project over 10 years.
The city approved agreements providing a 10-year, 75% tax abatement to support the project. P&L has committed to retaining 19 employees and hiring an additional 10.
The company looks to have the addition finished by May 2024 and is in the planning phase for the foundation work for the addition, Pizanias said.
“We want to beat the weather and pour the floor before the cold hits, so that’s our focus right now over the next five to six weeks,” he said. “We’ll start erecting the metal building after that.”
Pictured at top: Federal Street in downtown Youngstown.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
