YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio \u2013 The city\u2019s Board of Control approved agreements with an Erie, Pa., firm to conduct appraisals for two properties the city is looking to acquire \u2013 including two parcels owned by Mitchel Joseph, Joseph Co. International CEO and chairman, at the proposed Chill Can site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At a meeting Thursday, the board\u2019s members \u2013 Mayor Derrick McDowell, Law Director Adam Buente and Finance Director Kyle Miasek approved paying Sammartino, Stout & Lo Presti Inc. $3,000 to appraise the two East Side parcels owned by Joseph and another $4,000 to appraise the former Anthony\u2019s on the River property, 15 Oak Hill Ave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to work with both of the property owners to buy the properties from them,\u201d Buente said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In both cases, the firm is being requested to conduct the appraisals \u201cto develop an opinion of fair market value for a total take,\u201d according to city documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly a decade ago, Joseph Co. announced plans to develop a manufacturing\/research and development campus at property on the East Side that the city assembled and acquired for the project. The project never came to fruition, and the city \u2013 after foreclosing on the property owned by M.J. Joseph Development Co. \u2013 \u00a0acquired most of the project site at a February 2025 sheriff\u2019s sale. That did not include the two parcels held by Joseph personally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could only foreclose against the corporate entity,\u201d Buente said. \u201cThere\u2019s these two little parcels that [Mitchell Joseph] still owns that we\u2019re taking by \u2013 or starting to take by \u2013 eminent domain for purposes of just getting all that organized into one plat.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials received several ideas for the property during an open house held at the site in late April, McDowell said. \u201cI would say five or six inquiries came from the recent open house,\u201d he remarked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city has received inquiries regarding the property for projects ranging from manufacturing to sports facilities, said DeMaine Kitchen, the city\u2019s director of community planning and economic development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city is looking at acquiring the former Anthony\u2019s on the River property \u2013 owned by Two Bridges \u2013 because it is needed for the process of taking down the Marshall Street dam, one of three Mahoning River dams in the city that Youngstown plans to remove.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need it for staging and to just have access to the dam,\u201d Kitchen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Approximately five contractors responded to the city\u2019s request for qualifications, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works. The goal is to get a contract negotiated and awarded by mid-July, with physical work on the projects getting underway in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a design-build type of thing, so there\u2019s quite a bit of design work,\u201d as well as permitting that has to be approved, Shasho said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both agreements call for the appraisals to be completed within 60 days of receipt of the signed letter of engagement. Buente said the city was hoping to have them completed as soon as possible to initiate eminent domain proceedings, if necessary, which can take up to a year to go through.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that doing this formally signals that we\u2019re initiating the eminent domain process, and we\u2019re hoping that starts a conversation where we can work with the property owners to get the properties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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