Youngstown OKs Services Agreement for Building Project
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Bid documents should be completed in a month and a construction contract let by the end of the year for converting the former Bottom Dollar Food building on the South Side into a community hub, city officials said.
The city’s Board of Control approved entering into a $24,650 professional services agreement with BSHM Architects Inc., Youngstown, for design services related to construction documents, preparation and bidding process for the city-owned building, 2649 Glenwood Ave.
Built on the site of a former school, the Glenwood Bottom Dollar Food store was one of three that the chain opened in the city in 2012 and operated for about two years until its parent company sold the chain to Aldi Inc., which subsequently shuttered the chain.
In June 2023, the city reacquired the property from One Health Ohio, which had purchased it from the city in 2018 with plans to open a health clinic there that went unrealized. In November, city and community leaders announced plans to establish a “community marketplace” in the building.
Design documents are near completion and the city should have bid documents within 30 days, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.
“My vision is that it become a community hub for some of those things that are missing in that neighborhood,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said.
City officials still are working out what will go in the space and will seek citizen engagement, he said. Among the concepts he wants to see there are initiatives addressing food insecurity and infant mortality. The neighborhood lacks banking services and pharmacies.
ACTION, a community group that operates mobile markets offering fresh foods in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, and Flying High Inc., which provides drug and alcohol treatment, reentry and employment training services, are among potential tenants.
“This is going to be tenant driven and needs-based as well,” Brown said. “If they can satisfy a need that’s there, that’ll be great. So it’s still early to decide how things will shape up.”
Contracts for the project have to be approved by the end of the year because the city plans to use American Rescue Plan funds for the work, Shasho said.
“I would expect the project’s probably going to take about six months,” he said.
Other Business
In other business, the board approved paying $259,700 to ProQuality Demolition, Campbell, for emergency services following the May 28 natural gas explosion near Realty Tower, downtown.
Next week, City Council will consider an ordinance to advertise for bids and enter into a contract for repairs to Market Street and Wick Avenue and East Federal Street between Market Street and Champion Street near the Realty demolition site. The repairs will address damage caused by the explosion and during the demolition of the building.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
