YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- As the Nov. 21 deadline to exercise historic-tax credits approaches, Strollo Architects seems certain to secure the funding it needs to take possession of the Wells Building, 201-205 W. Federal St., renovate the four-story structure and move in next summer.
The vacant structure, with a terra cotta façade built in the Classical Revival style, will turn 100 next year. It is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.
“Our target closing [with the Community Development Group of Huntington Bank] is Nov. 15,” Gregg Strollo said yesterday afternoon. “Construction will begin the 16th.”
The general contractor is Mike Coates Construction Co., Niles, said Strollo, president of the architecture firm. He expects the rehabilitation/restoration to take ”a maximum of six months, depending on what kind of winter we have.”
Progress in securing the historic-tax credit and navigating the bureaucracy to use them has been slow. “It’s moved glacially,” Strollo said. “But that’s not unusual in taking advantage of tax credits.”
The board of the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. Wednesday gave President Thomas Humphries the authority to transfer title to the property to Wells Renaissance Partnership, the entity Gregg Strollo set up to acquire and rehabilitate the building.
Strollo Architects would move its offices from the sixth floor of 20 Federal Place to the first floor and lower level of the Wells Building and convert the upper three floors to 12 apartments.
The CIC project manager, Dave Kosec, reported that CIC involvement on “the Wells project is on the last leg,” that Strollo had lined up the $4 million in financing needed to proceed and he “expect[s] to [see the Wells Renaissance Partnership] close on the loan and [then see] construction begin immediately.”
The Wells Building holds the key to the CIC proceeding on what happens to the State Theatre/Armed Forces property just west of Wells. A vacant lot separates the properties on West Federal Street. “We can’t plan for anything until the Wells project is done,” Kosec informed the board. All that seems certain is that a parking lot would be created on the lower level.
Whether the State Theatre façade can be saved and reclaimed is unknown, Kosec said. It depends on whether the Wells Building is financed.
The third item on the CIC agenda was its role as third-party administrator for transfer of the old Vindicator office building on Vindicator Square and Front Street to the Youngstown Business Incubator. Informally known as Tech Block 5, conversion of the former newspaper office building and printing plant is to be funded by a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration along with an allocation from the state budget.
The EDA would fund $3 million of the conversion, the state $1.5 million.
The general manager of The Vindicator, Mark Brown, was excused from the executive session when the board discussed The Vindicator property.
In other business, the Marietta office of Perry & Associates CPA’s A.C. is conducting the scheduled audit of the downtown CIC, Bruce Luntz, its chief financial officer, reported. The audit is due to be concluded by Dec. 31 and the board will learn its findings at its first meeting of 2015.
The state auditor’s office chooses the public accounting first that conducts the audit, Luntz related. The CIC pays the bill the firm submits.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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