YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- From the outside, the terra cotta façade still commands a certain wonder. Inside are architectural cues that date to the 1920s and reflect the majesty of when the Strouss-Hirshberg Co. erected the imposing 6-story building at 20 W. Federal St.

The department store’s only serious rival was McKelvey’s, an equally imposing structure three blocks west and since razed and replaced by the Voinovich Government Center.

Today the Strouss building, now named 20 Federal Place, again bustles, as does the downtown it anchors.

More important, though, the structure commands a central role in a larger story that began as a model for the modern retail industry and survives today as the microcosm of an evolving downtown.

The building has been in the center of it all: the heyday of downtown shopping, the pressures of urban depopulation that forced the department store to close in 1986, the reincarnation during the late 1980s as the corporate headquarters of Phar-Mor Inc. and the eventual demise of that company because of corporate scandal, and the building’s place in the renaissance the central business district enjoys today.

“I’ve seen better times and worse times,” says Richard Tomashow, owner of Jerry Lee’s Jewelry. The jeweler moved into its ground floor site as Phar-Mor started its operations in the late 1980s.

“I can’t complain, I’m happy here,” Tomashow says. “I see a trend pointing to it getting better.”

Within the walls of 20 Federal Place today are small retailers, coffee shops, a spacious food court, professional and government offices, and a large employer that has changed the character of the central business district.

More than 1,400 work inside the building – 900 alone for VXI Global Inc., a call center that takes up two entire floors – while the rest of the downtown has enjoyed a resurgence that 10 years ago many dismissed as unthinkable.

In 1926, the Strouss-Hirshberg Co. constructed the building that became its flagship retail store downtown, a time when the central business district was the center of commerce.

“The story of Strouss’ in many ways is the story of downtown,” says Thomas Welsh, who along with co-author Michael Geltz recently published “Strouss’: Youngstown’s Dependable Store.” Their book details the history of the retailer from 1876 until the May Co. combined the division with Kaufmann’s in 1986.

As he walks through the building today, Welsh picks out specific architectural components – the buttressed ceilings near the front entrance, for example, still very visible, as is the decorative trim just above the doorways.

“This building is a real treasure,” Welsh states, noting the structure was designed by architects Starrett & Van Vleck, who also designed the flagship store for Saks Fifth Avenue. “It was refreshing to see the manner in which the city’s leadership rushed to preserve this building,” he says.

Innovations in customer service, employee benefits, employee stock-ownership plans, and other amenities were born at this location, Welsh adds. “They were among the first retailers to provide insurance to their employees.”

Co-author Geltz adds that efficiencies such as the use of pneumatic tubes to send payments to a central location in the building were cutting-edge technology during the 1920s. “I started coming to the store when I was a kid in the 1950s. These kinds of innovations were very interesting.”

Welsh says the Strouss family always pushed to maintain a strong local identity, even after the store became part of the May Co. in 1948. “That continuity continued until 1986,” he relates.

Moreover, as retail outlets moved to the suburbs – Strouss’ was an anchor store when the Southern Park Mall opened in 1970 – the company also insisted on an urban presence. “They continued to upgrade and invest in their flagship store. They never abandoned the city.”

Yet it was clear that by the early 1980s, the draw toward downtown as a commercial shopping center had waned. The combination punch of the steel industry’s retrenchment and the population flight to the suburbs were signals that Strouss’ downtown days were numbered.

One of the interview subjects in the book, Welsh adds, recalled that by this time, patrons went downtown, shopped and immediately returned home. “In the past, going downtown was a day-long experience that included shopping, dining or catching a film.”

When the union with Kaufmann’s was completed, the downtown store closed.

City officials scrambled to salvage the building, and in 1988, Phar-Mor moved into newly converted office space. That gave new life for the structure, and at its zenith, Phar-Mor employed more than 1,000 there.

But the fraud and embezzlement scandal that rocked the company and sent its founder, Mickey Monus, to prison left empty halls and offices in the building.

“When Phar-Mor was in here, things were great,” recalls Jerry Lee’s Tomashow. “There were a lot of professional people in the building.”

After Phar-Mor went bankrupt and liquidated, the city of Youngstown stepped in to assume control of the building. Since then, new tenants have been lured into 20 Federal through incentives.

On any given day during lunch hour, you’re likely to find the food court packed with employees of VXI as well as other downtown businesses. While the wages paid at area call centers aren’t the wages of the professionals who once occupied the building, the volume of business for vendors in the food court allows these small businesses to thrive.

“I like it downtown. The people here are really friendly and the food prices are decent,” says Catherine Suverison, a recent hire at VXI. Many employees there, she notes, work late, and some of the vendors are still open.

Sean McKinney, building and grounds commissioner for the city of Youngstown, says the tenants of 20 Federal have played a major role in helping the building survive, while the resurgence in the downtown has also provided an incentive for others to locate or expand here.

“There are about 1,400 employees working in this building,” McKinney says. Law offices, professional firms such as Strollo Architects, the city’s Department of Development and Building and Grounds offices, and selected retailers all occupy space. These employees in turn support other downtown establishments.

“The building is about 75% to 80% full,” McKinney reports. Office space on the mezzanine level left vacant when Syncro Medical sold its business, and Keynote Media, which relocated to other offices downtown, is available. “We’re looking for more tenants,” he says, noting that the building is working on a new website to boost its profile.

“I think the city wants to do whatever it takes to keep this building alive,” McKinney says. The city is replacing three elevators and some new windows, he reports, and as the downtown continues to improve, the marketability of 20 Federal Place improves, making it more attractive.

Others at 20 Federal Place are expanding. The owners of Two Guys Clothing hosted a grand opening of a new shop, Two Girls Clothing, the only retail shop downtown devoted to women’s fashion.

“We had a lot of success with Two Guys Clothing and thought that now’s the time,” says owner Dan Mitchell. “I have a vision this is going to be big.”

The retailers’ expansion coincides with a renewed interest in the downtown as a residential and destination spot for nightlife, says Phil Kidd, a downtown resident who recently opened a specialty store, Youngstown Nation, on Phelps Street.

“Five years ago, they were thinking about whether apartments would work downtown,” he says. Since then, developer Dominic Gatta has converted the Federal Building into downtown apartments that are sold out, while developer Dominic Marchionda is redeveloping the Erie Terminal and Wick buildings for the same purpose.

“Now, that’s not only a reality, there’s not enough supply to meet demand,” he says. “It’s an example of a transformation that was starting just five years ago.”

Kidd believes that developing the downtown into a living community is a critical component that will ultimately spur demand for other services, such as retail. “What comes with that is all the quality-of-life demands, which benefits everybody,” he says.

Weekend evenings in the central business district are packed, Kidd relates, and not just for special events.

Probably no establishment in the downtown has enjoyed this more than Roberto’s, an upscale Italian restaurant that opened last year. “It’s been unbelievable,” says Roberto Faraglia, co-owner.

Faragalia and his business partners took what was a outdated pizza shop and transformed it into a stylish, Italian bistro that is catching the attention of the entire region. “We’ve got people coming from Cleveland, Canton and Pittsburgh,” he says. “They make the trip specifically to eat here. We do very little advertising, so everything has been word-of-mouth.”

Christian Rinehart, owner of O’Donold’s, an Irish-style pub that recently opened downtown, says business is “slightly ahead of pace” in sales compared to other ventures. “We’re guessing we’ll do close to $2 million a year down here.”

Rinehart, who lives on the North Side, says he saw the changes coming to the downtown several years ago, and wanted to be a part of that growing market. When space became available after The Lemon Grove moved into the former Rosetta Stone, the business invested $225,000 to create an Irish pub.

“I’m looking for other buildings, too” that could support other uses, Rinehart says.

It’s in this context that Strouss’ co-author Welsh says frames his book. “We’re not seeing retail, but we’re seeing other kinds of businesses downtown,” he remarks. “Some of the older people that I interviewed, those who worked in the downtown during the 1940s and 1950s, said they’re very excited about having a reason to go downtown.”

This story appeared in the MidDecember edition of The Business Journal.
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Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.