City to Take Title to Former Bottom Dollar Food Site

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mayor John McNally would like to see a grocery store and pharmacy go into the former Bottom Dollar Food store on Glenwood Avenue, he said today.

An ordinance before City Council at its meeting Wednesday would authorize the city’s Board of Control to negotiate terms and enter into a gift agreement with Aldi. The property will be deeded to the city and closing costs , not to exceed $5,000, will be paid out of city funds.

“It’s important for us to have that property,” McNally said. “With all of the hard work that is being done by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., the Idora Neighborhood Association and the other residents of the Glenwood Avenue corridor, making sure that that area has good access to good food and produce is very important.”

The Glenwood Avenue store, built on the site of a former South Side school, was one of three stores the Bottom Dollar Food chain opened in the city in February 2012, the other two located on Mahoning Avenue and Midlothian Boulevard. The following year it opened stores in Warren and in New Castle, Pa.

In late 2014, the chain’s parent, Delhaize Group, sold the Bottom Dollar Food stores to Aldi Inc., which operates several stores in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, and subsequently closed them.

According to Mahoning County records, the total value of the building and property is $685,770. That includes $565,540 from construction of the supermarket building on the site.

Once the city formally takes title to the site, it will issue a request for proposals from interested parties. “But the city’s first priority would be a grocery store and some type of pharmacy services,” McNally said.

Before the Bottom Dollar Food store’s opening, the South Side neighborhood had been without a full-service grocery store for several years.

The Glenwood Avenue property is the only one of the three former Bottom Dollar Food locations involved in the council legislation. The owner of the Mahoning Plaza, where the Mahoning Avenue store is located, is in discussions with Aldi regarding the site. Bottom Dollar Food had acquired the Midlothian site sometime after opening there and is marketing that property itself, McNally said.

A 30-day contingency period will go into effect once the agreement between the city and Aldi is signed and council members approve the ordinance, said Anthony Donofrio, deputy law director.

Within the first 10 days of that period the city will conduct a title search on the property.

“If we’re satisfied with the search we can waive the contingency period,” Donofrio said. “Then Aldi will transfer the property to the city by way of warranty deed.”

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.