Neighborhoods

Youngstown and the surrounding Mahoning and Trumbull counties were rated the second-best city to live in Ohio and number 62 for the best in the country, according to a recent study from U.S. News & World Report on the 150 best places to live in the U.S. 

The region received high marks for “value” and “quality of life.” 

Here’s what the publication had to say about Youngstown and surrounding areas. Located halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, Youngstown is still reflective of the steel industry’s collapse in the 1970s. But this Rust Belt city is in the midst of a cultural and economic renaissance that combines rich historical tradition with the zeal of a new generation. The area is seeing a resurgence of business in its once-empty downtown area, including restaurants, bars, galleries, and local shops, while organizations like the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation seek to shore up the urban neighborhoods. 

To read the full story from Mahoning Matters, click here. 

Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Southside Automotive has been operating at 3009 Glenwood Avenue for 75 years.

Opened in 1948 by Frank Eich Jr., the entire Eich family has been involved in the business from the beginning.

All eight Eich siblings helped at the shop throughout their childhood, cleaning up on the weekends for a quarter, or, as they got older, helping their mother Ruth with the books and billing, and eventually learning the trade from Frank Jr.. Now operated by Frank’s sons, Frank III and Tom, the shop still performs all automotive service and repairs right here on the Glenwood corridor.

Keeping with the family-run theme, mechanic Rick Graham has worked there since 1973 and his sister, Jane Antonelli, has been the bookkeeper and receptionist since 1983. From brakes and front end work, to heating and cooling repairs, to ignition and computer issues, and routine services like oil changes, they are a full service automotive shop.

They’ve seen the neighborhood go through many changes and are happy to see it being revitalized. They love their local clientele and enjoy meeting people from the neighborhood. Stop in and see them! Southside Automotive is open Monday through Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm and can be reached at 330.782.9570.

Tuesday, May 30, 2023.

James has lived in his home for 8 years. 

His roof was full of holes and the leaks were causing numerous issues throughout the home, including a bathroom full of pigeons! YNDC replaced his roof and now he doesn’t have to worry about rain (or pigeons) coming into his home. He takes pride in his house and loves his neighborhood. He can often be found on his front porch, chatting with neighbors, and watching over the neighborhood. YNDC also installed a furnace and a hot water tank, improving his quality of life and making it possible for his family to stay in their home. 

The Western Reserve Port Authority is buying properties “that only government could love,” says its executive director, Anthony Trevena.

And in so doing, it’s positioning them for productive use where more than likely local governments would not.

Case in point:  The port authority is finalizing the language of land purchase agreements with Steward Health, but it already has a potential project for one of the 26 properties included in the $300,000 deal. That building, 1915 Belmont Ave. in Youngstown, has housed a movie theater, a grocery store and a medical supply company. Trevena says the port authority has a project in mind for the property, which most recently was used for storage, and is in the early stages of due diligence.
“We’re having conversations with a group that’s interested in the property,” Trevena says. “We’re very, very optimistic that’s going to work out.”

Trevena, who has been with the port authority since 2015 and became executive director last year, has no illusions about many of the sites WRPA has taken on since it began repurposing properties and working with developers to bring them back into productive use. They include decaying commercial and residential properties – some of which can be rehabilitated while others need to be razed – as well as vacant lots and large tracts of brownfields.
“I guess you could say we’re buying those projects or properties that really only government can love,” Trevena says. “The things we get are the things that the private market is not going after, generally speaking, and then we try to put it in the right hands.” That effort in recent years has led to the revival of hundreds of thousands of square feet of space in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. One Warren building was repurposed as a wine bar, and another provided an expansion opportunity for the Trumbull County Historical Society.

In Youngstown, a handful of buildings along Mahoning Avenue are undergoing renovations, including two to accommodate a local coffee company’s expansion and one with upper level apartments and a lower level that is being brought back to a vanilla-box state for a future end-user. At the same time, brownfield sites in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties – including one of the largest in Ohio – are being readied for future development.
These initiatives grew out of the establishment of the port authority’s economic development division, launched in 2009 to capitalize on the various financing and other capabilities port authorities have in Ohio. Among those is the ability, under the Ohio Revised Code, to directly negotiate with and sell property to individuals without being required to follow the public bid process. WRPA staff looked at what other port authorities do in the economic development arena, says Sarah Lown, public finance manager. Depressed property values in the Mahoning Valley caught their attention and inspired a focus on the real estate market. “We wanted to make sure we positioned ourselves to complement the other economic development agencies and the work they’re doing,” she says.

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber was focused on jobs and business attraction and retention and Eastgate Regional Council of Governments was addressing infrastructure, but no one in the local economic development community was focusing on bringing up property values, Lown says. One of the port authority’s early deals, in 2018, involved partnering with Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., which was looking to acquire a building at 2246 Glenwood Ave. that the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley had put on the market.

To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here. 

The administration of Youngstown Mayor Jamael “Tito” Brown is proposing a plan that would create the largest roof replacement program in the city’s history.

Council must still approve it. If passed, the plan would go a long way toward preserving the city’s aging housing stock. Code enforcement Superintendent Mike Durkin doesn’t mince words when asked how bad the roof situation is in Youngstown. “Uh … Very bad,” he said.

But Durkin and the city have a plan to replace roofs — more than the city has ever done. “A lot of these folks that we deal with on a daily basis that are living in squalor, their roofs are leaking, so they shut their second and their third floors down and they live in their first floor,” Durkin said. The proposed plan is to spend $3 million in American Rescue Plan funds on roof replacements. At $12,000 per roof — that’s 250 roofs.

Durkin estimates Youngstown has 400 to 500 roofs that need replaced. It’s expected to be presented to city council at its meeting next Wednesday. “We get the quality of life and increase that for the citizens by putting on a new roof, then we’ve done our job and we keep them in their home for another 5 to 10 years,” Durkin said. Durkin cited homeowners who use blue tarps to keep the water out — or others who’ve patched their roofs with multiple colors of shingles. It would be for owner-occupied houses only — and they would have to qualify — but the plan is to make it possible for most everyone. “We’re looking at those who fall between the cracks, trying to get some of the money for them. They make enough money to live, but not enough money to replace a $12,000- roof,” Durkin said.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation started replacing roofs 10 years ago — doing 10 to 20 a year. Last year, YNDC replaced 154 roofs — the most ever — so 250 would be a record.

To read the full story from WYTV, click here. 

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation
820 Canfield Road
Youngstown, Ohio 44511

Phone: 330.480.0423
Email: info@yndc.org

Vi Aguirre is the Community Engagement Manager for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Under the direction of the Neighborhood Stabilization Director, Vi works with staff, partners, neighborhood leaders, and community volunteers to involve residents in YNDC’s work; activate community space; advance neighborhood safety; and keep residents and partners informed about YNDC’s programs, services, and activities across the city. 

Contact Vi at vaguirre@yndc.org

The city is taking back ownership of the long-closed Bottom Dollar grocery store on Glenwood Avenue from ONE Health Ohio, which planned more than seven years ago to turn the building into a medical facility. The city board of control voted Thursday to refund the $150,000 paid in March 2018 by ONE (Ohio North East) Health Ohio to purchase the 18,000-square-foot building on the South Side. “There were concerns with the delay in action,” said city Law Director Jeff Limbian, a board of control member. “There were benchmarks and expectations that were not met. They were not moving fast enough. It’s been over five years, and still we wait.”

ONE Health Ohio announced in April 2016 that it wanted to buy the building. City council approved an agreement a few months later to permit the board of control to sell the former Bottom Dollar at 2649 Glenwood Ave. to ONE Health Ohio. The board of control signed a development agreement in December 2017 and voted in March 2018 to sell the property for $150,000 to ONE Health Ohio. Bottom Dollar closed in January 2015 after the company was sold to Aldi Inc. The city then acquired the property — the former Cleveland Elementary School and a playground — from Aldi. “We’re not disparaging ONE Health Ohio but they understand it’s time to part ways,” Limbian said. “We have to move on and move in a different direction. We’ve had conversations with ONE Health, and it’s a done deal.”

There are some interested parties that want the South Side property, but nothing has been finalized, Limbian said. “With the advancements made on the Glenwood Avenue corridor, the mayor wants to see it continue to move forward, and that includes the development of that building,” he said. Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, the ward where the building is located, said: “I’ve been pushing for the city to get it back. I’m glad. There are things in the works. Something productive will come from it.” ONE Health Ohio planned to provide medical, dental and behavioral health services to lower-income people at the South Side location as well as a food distribution site and possibly a pharmacy.

Under the development agreement, ONE Health Ohio had two years from December 2017 to open or be required to sell the property back to the city. The city actually gave the agency almost six years. “There were many reasons to hope that their efforts in other places would ultimately prove successful here,” Limbian said in explaining why the city gave ONE Health Ohio additional time. “The nature of city government is such that, with a private entity enthusiastic that they are going to do the right thing, that they will in fact do that.” Limbian added: “Unfortunately, the promises made to Youngstown were not kept, and the mayor showed them an abundance of patience. Now is the time to move on.”

ONE Health Ohio, headquartered in Youngstown, operates seven health centers and four outpatient addiction treatment centers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Stark counties. Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, ONE Health Ohio’s CEO, couldn’t be reached Thursday to comment. He initially said the project would cost about $4 million but later said it would cost closer to $6 million. ONE Health spent about $500,000, including the $150,000 sale cost as well as work to demolish the interior portion of the store, landscaping, resurfacing the 62,000-square-foot parking lot, installing entrance gates and exterior electrical work, Dwinnells wrote in a Sept. 6 letter to Glenwood Neighbors, an organization of businesses and residents on and along Glenwood Avenue.

“A significant cause of delay for this project has to do with our reallocation of resources — financial and manpower — to address the COVID pandemic and vaccine programs during much of 2020 and 2021,” Dwinnells wrote in the letter. “This caused a significant strain in the budgetary structure and our attention as well as priority shifted to focus on how to protect the public effectively and adequately.” He added that since the pandemic, “specialized staffing” has “been in short supply and all health facilities have experienced this difficulty including local hospitals. We are concerned that without adequate staffing, our service delivery abilities would be hampered.”

In that letter, Dwinnells wrote that he anticipated interior renovation work would start in December and work would be done by July to September. The renovations never were started. In the past seven years, there have been numerous projects in the Glenwood Avenue corridor including the opening of the Glenwood Business Center and other businesses, the purchase of the former Foster Art Theatre by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. as well as several businesses and residential properties undergoing renovations.

To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.