Oak Hill Collaborative Gets Facade Grant for Incubator
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Oak Hill Collaborative moved one step closer to completing its proposed incubator project Thursday, with approval of a $20,000 façade grant for the project.
The city's Board of Control authorized the grant for the $200,000 project at its regularly scheduled meeting. The building, located at 507 Oak Hill Ave., previously had been owned by Forum Health Inc. before falling into the possession of a third-party owner, said Patrick Kerrigan, a former municipal judge and the director of Oak Hill Collaborative. The collaborative acquired the 3,120-square-foot building about eight months ago.
"It had been abandoned for quite a while" and fell into "substantial disrepair," he said. "There's quite a bit of work that has to be done," he added. The organization had to wait on approval of the city façade funds prior to starting that work.
The façade portion of the project is estimated to cost $50,640. The work will include repair and painting to the exterior of the building, as well as fence replacement.
Kerrigan said he expects to have the incubator fully operational within six weeks. The incubator has one tenant already and several more prospects. He wants to have as many startup businesses from the South Side neighborhood as possible.
At its next meeting, the board is expected to take up a lease agreement with Vallourec Star for 29 acres in the Ohio Works Business Park. City Council approved the conversion of a license agreement to the 99-year lease for the site at its final regular meeting before recessing for summer. The acreage will be use for "general corporate expansion purposes," though Vallourec has not outlined a "specific use," said David Bozanich, city finance director.
"We believe they will use it for some type of facility and significant investment to be located in Youngstown sometime in the future," Bozanich said.
Council members also approved a resolution supporting Wick Properties LLC's application to the Ohio Development Services Agency’s brownfield revolving loan fund to assist with its redevelopment of the Wick Building. Wick Properties is seeking $770,000 from the fund to assist with its proposed redevelopment of the Wick Building, 34 W. Federal St., which developer Dominic Marchionda plans to convert into extended stay units and traditional apartments.
The building “is an anchor downtown,” and its reuse “could add a key component to the central business district,” Bozanich said. “The developer is talking about spending approximately $16 million on that project so we’re of course excited about seeing that happen,” he remarked.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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