SitemapIt’s been just over a year since
the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation took over its largest
property yet — renovating the first house the city ever seized through new spot
blight laws.
YNDC is renovating 3726 Glenwood Ave. on the south side from top
to bottom, getting it ready to sell. A lot has changed at the five-bedroom
house over the past few months. There are new windows, fixtures, and a sense of
excitement around the home, which is a big change from the years it sat empty. “We
uncovered some leaded glass windows in the back that were really cool that we
didn’t expect to find,” Sokol said. “They were original. They were actually
covered by stucco on one side and drywall and through the demo, we just
happened to find them.” Some of the discoveries weren’t so good, like the fact
that the entire foundation in one area had to be replaced. “The garage basement
wall was actually bowed in quite a bit so we had to do a major structural
repair,” Sokol said. “We had to jack up the garage ceiling, lift it up, and
replace the entire back wall of the garage.” One of the largest hurdles the
group had to clear was repairing the foundation wall. It was an expense they
didn’t expect. “We knew this was going to be a big budget project going in, and
we were prepared for that,” said YNDC Housing Director Tiffany Sokol. “Part of
the reason we are able to do this house — and actually rehabilitate some other
homes we are working on in the city that we wouldn’t have been able to do
before — is because of our partnership with the City of Youngstown.” The city
said this particular house was such a drag on the neighborhood, they had to
take it through eminent domain. That’s a tool that could be used in the future.
The house had last been sold as a land contract but unable to keep up with repairs,
the tenants walked away. “It’s definitely a tool we could use in the future.
This particular house was owned by Harbor Portfolio, which has become kind of
nationally notorious for their practices of land contracting,” said YNDC
Director Ian Beniston. The asking price is expected to be more than $150,000.
That’s two to three times more than the average YNDC house. YNDC has kept up
with other work while the Glenwood Project goes on. Three new houses are going on the market this
week.
To read the full story and see the video from WKBN, click here.