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Ruddy Insurance Adds Downtown Youngstown Office
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A local insurance agent is looking to capitalize on the revival he sees downtown by opening an office in the Peggy Ann Building.
Ruddy Insurance Group opened an office this week on the second floor of the building, 101 W. Federal St. The insurance agency, which also has offices in Niles and Boardman, joins Friends Roastery, which occupies the ground floor of the building, and Massage Café which opened in the building’s lower level a month ago.
“There’s some new growth here,” said owner Shawn Ruddy, citing the growth of downtown housing and entertainment venues. Ruddy appeared Monday before the city’s design review committee seeking approval for a sign to advertise his agency’s new downtown presence.
“I didn’t see many insurance agencies down here so I thought it would be a good opportunity to put some roots down here, try to grow, and get that demographic from the downtown market as well as the YSU students,” he said.
Ruddy's agency, affiliated with Nationwide, offers standard home, auto, business and life insurance products as well as what he describes as a nonstandard policy for individuals who have not had insurance in the past.
The new office has two full-time employees and Ruddy said he wants to add a couple of interns. “I would like to have four full-time people,” he said.
The committee approved the sign for the business. John DeFrance, a downtown architect who serves on the committee, told Ruddy that the lighted sign, which will be flush against the building above the doorway leading to the second-level office, will need to be eight feet above the sidewalk.
“I want something so people know where we are because it’s a second-floor location,” Ruddy said. Otherwise potential clients will have difficulty finding the office. The top of the doorway is probably six or seven feet off the ground, he said.
“You’ll want a little bit of air in between the head of the door and the bottom of the sign anyway,” DeFrance said.
Another committee member, Dave Kosec, questioned having more than one sign on the building. A sign for Friends Roastery already is on the building.
Ruddy noted his sign would be about 12 feet from the coffee house sign.
“The relationship of the two businesses is divergent,” DeFrance said, noting that he understood the insurance agency’s need for an individual sign. Although a consolidated sign identifying all building tenants is recommended, the committee can review requests on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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