Kress Building to Be Demolished in 2 Weeks
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- In response to concerns presented by the city’s fire chief, demolition of the Kress Building downtown should begin in about two weeks, says a representative of the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp.
The Youngstown Design Review Committee approved allowing the YCACIC to move forward on demolition of the building, 117-121 W. Federal St., at its meeting Tuesday morning.
Fire Chief John O’Neill sent a letter to Bill D’Avignon, city community development director, requesting the expedited demolition due to concerns about the structure. D’Avignon is also chairman of the Design Review Committee.
In the letter, O’Neill describes the building as “structurally unsound’ and “possess[ing] a danger” to occupied structures nearby. “This building is a public hazard, as well as a danger to firefighters who may enter in the event of a fire,” he continued. “I am advising that it presents an actual and immediate danger of failure, fire and/or collapse and is in such a state of decay that it is impractical to expect it to be repaired. This is an immediate emergency situation and it creates an imminent threat to the public health and safety," his letter states.
Members of the committee also attested to the building’s poor condition, including Dave Kosec, project manager for the CIC. Floors have collapsed in the building, which he describes as “very ‘20s construction.” Among other issues in the building is water in the masonry of its structural walls.
“The rot and collapsing is imminent,” he said. The CIC has been preparing bid specifications and he expects demolition work to begin in two weeks.
Under an agreement approved last year with the city, the CIC is to demolish the Kress Building and convert the property to a parking lot, which the city will then purchase for $500,000. As part of the agreement, the agency will also fill the site of the former Armed Forces Building and State Theater and prepare it for surface parking.
Past initiatives to rehabilitate the Kress Building were unsuccessful. Jim Sutman, president of Iron and String Life Enhancement Inc., had proposed using Kress for an expansion of his Purple Cat day program but the costs to rehabilitate the property were too great.
“Every effort has been made” to redevelop the property, Kosec remarked.
“We cannot afford to leave that building standing. Just last week we had windows falling out,” he warned.
“The Kress was too far gone when [the CIC] got it,” Kosec said.
“There’s really no question about the condition,” said architect John DeFrance, a committee member. DeFrance told the committee he had surveyed the building 20 years ago and found “serious conditions and structural problems” then.
A view from above the building shows trees – not weeds – growing out of the roof, said Ray DeCarlo, city zoning specialist.
Another committee member, Angelo Pignatelli, lamented the prospect of having “another hole a block away from Central Square.”
Kosec countered that just because there will be a vacant lot once the building is demolished doesn’t mean the site will remain vacant. He cited as examples the demolition that paved the way for projects such as the Mahoning County Children’s Services building, the George V. Voinovich Government Center, the Taft Technology Center and the 7th District Court of Appeals building. Taking the “progressive steps” prepares property for “the next level,” he said.
Jacob Harver, owner of the Knox Building across the street, questioned whether there were any plans to preserve the building’s terra cotta exterior and if not volunteered to undertake an effort. He said the company contracted to demolish the Paramount Theater recently made a “feeble effort” to preserve the terra cotta. “It was “heartbreaking” that so much of the building’s terra cotta ended up in a landfill.
Kosec responded that there were no plans to preserve the terra cotta and would not allow anyone else on the “unsafe structure.”
In other action, the committee approved a design for a proposed “upscale doughnut shop” in a building formerly occupied by a pizza shop and, earlier, a gas station.
Douglas Scott of Sebring, Royce Robinson of Youngstown and Johnny Caceres of Sebring, partners in the project, plan to open YO Doughnut Co. in the buildingat 115 E. Rayen Ave. hopefully by mid-April, Scott said. YO Doughnut would feature fresh doughnuts made onsite as well as coffee.
The partners propose “bringing the building somewhat back to its original character,” Scott said. Plans call for repainting, replacing windows, resurfacing the parking area and retaining the exiting shrubbery as well as putting in additional plants. The partners have put about $25,000 into the interior of the building and plan to spend about $10,000 on the exterior, he reported. The company already has secured building permits for the remodeling work.
Originally planning a chocolate brown exterior, Scott agreed to “more neutral color,” as D’Avignon suggested. “This looks almost black,” D’Avignon said.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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