Youngstown Officials Will Consider RFP Legislation for 20 Federal

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – City officials hope to have a development partner for the 20 Federal Place building chosen by Nov. 30, a consultant working with the city said Thursday.

If the ordinance is approved by members of City Council during a special summer meeting Monday, the city’s Board of Control will issue a request for proposals to purchase and redevelop the property Aug. 1, with a Sept. 16 deadline for responses, according to the RFP package that will accompany the legislation. 

An earlier RFP draft that contained dates was included in the packet for Monday’s meeting distributed to media outlets Wednesday.

The property includes the seven-story building, which was constructed in 1926 and has 332,000 square- feet of floor space, and six parcels totaling one acre. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986. 

“The goal for 20 Federal Place is to reach the full economic potential of the property through adaptive mixed-use redevelopment, while preserving its historic character,” the document states. “The building’s “optimal location and diverse set of floor plates” provide “a wide range of suitable commercial and residential uses.”

“The idea would be to select a redeveloper by Nov. 30,” Doug Rasmussen, CEO and managing partner of Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners, said during a phone interview. The St. Louis firm has worked with the city on the building since 2020.

Once the proposals are received, city officials and Steadfast City representatives will conduct respondent interviews through the end of October, Rasmussen said. Hopefully, by the council meeting scheduled for Nov. 20, there will be a couple of finalists who would be asked to make presentations before council at that meeting, he said.

“The redevelopment of 20 Federal will serve as one of the catalyst projects in the revival of downtown. We are so excited to move forward with this project,” said Stephanie Gilchrist, Youngstown economic development director.

Commitments required by a developer include entering “into a contract to purchase or option to purchase” the 20 Federal Place property from the city and acknowledging Desmone Architects of Pittsburgh, which the city engaged in 2022, as the “architectural partner” on the project.

The project will be much more attractive to potential developers than the last time the city sought partners for a few reasons, Rasmussen said. One is the environmental remediation and demolition work done on the building, funded in part by a nearly $7 million Ohio brownfield remediation grant the city received two years ago.

“That makes it infinitely less complicated,” he said. “It basically has removed that uncertainty and has removed that extra cost that you cannot recover through additional rent.”

The other factor is $18 million in state and federal historic preservation tax credits awarded in late 2023 to 20 Federal Place LLC, a special purpose entity created to advance the project that will “help buy down and make the overall project financing much more feasible,” he said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.