YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The 21-acre Chill Can site on the East Side has been sold to the city at a sheriff’s sale for $1.379 million, according to a public auction that concluded at 10:04 a.m. Tuesday.
The auction began at 10 a.m., according to the online site that hosted the sale. The site noted that the 86 parcels were sold to the “judgment creditor” for $1,379,580.
In this case, the judgment creditor is the city of Youngstown, which held first position on the land and buildings. There were no other bidders for the property.
The sale closes the books on a protracted legal matter that began nearly four years ago between the city and the defunct project’s developer, California-based M.J. Joseph Development Corp.
“We are glad to put this issue behind us and turn our focus towards building something that will benefit both our residents and economy for the long-term,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said in a statement. “There is excitement about the possibilities of what the site can become, and while that is still being determined, one thing is clear – now that the city has control of the site, our goal is to ensure the result is something Youngstown can be proud of.”
Nearly two years ago, a Mahoning County Common Pleas court ordered M.J. Joseph to repay the city $1.5 million, finding that the company breached its development agreement by not completing the Chill Can project. A court then followed by slapping sanctions totaling $733,480.80 on Joseph Development.
The company has refused to pay the city on both orders.
Given the circumstances, the city provided what is called a “credit bid” toward the acquisition of the property, meaning it did not have to put up any money for the sale other than administrative fees.
Meanwhile, in 2023 a court also ordered Joseph Development to pay MS Consultants, an architectural and engineering firm, $322,907.54 plus interest for work the company did at the site but was not paid for. MS Consultants in July 2023 initiated foreclosure proceedings against the developer.
The city joined the complaint, and the court late last year ordered the assets to be auctioned at a sheriff’s sale.
The site’s appraisal value stood at $2,069,370.
The property’s sale puts to rest an odyssey that began more than eight years ago, when Joseph Co. International CEO Mitchell Joseph announced in October 2016 his intentions to invest more than $18 million to build a campus that would support manufacturing and research for self-chilling beverage cans and other products.
The venture promised to create 237 jobs by August 2021, per a development agreement it signed with the city in 2017, which awarded the project a $1.5 million development grant. The project never reported hiring more than two employees, and three buildings constructed at the site are unoccupied.
Anticipating court action, M.J. Joseph filed a complaint in June 2021 against the city, alleging the city did not have the authority to collect monetary damages nor was entitled to the land. The city countersued for $2.8 million, demanding a refund of its development grant, relocation and acquisition expenses and computed lost income tax revenue.
MS Consultants filed its complaint in January 2023 seeking $322,907.80 from M.J. Joseph, arguing it was not paid for work it completed at the project site. After a court ruled against M.J. Joseph, MS Consultants filed a separate foreclosure action, which the city ultimately joined.
M.J. Joseph’s attorneys then withdrew their representation, and in May 2024 the court closed out the city’s litigation against the developer, as the city deemed it unlikely it would ever collect its money. MS Consultants had earlier voluntarily dismissed its case against the company.
From 2021 through November 2024, the litigation has cost the city $233,873.50 in legal fees to its outside legal counsel, Manchester Newman & Bennett, according to city finance department records.
M.J. Joseph and its CEO have essentially walked away from all litigation and the entire project. The company’s website is no longer active, nor are its phone lines.