Vacant Parkway Tower to be demolished in Youngstown

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Youngstown’s Parkway Tower, built in 1929, overlooks Wick Park and Stambaugh Auditorium but now the building needs to come down.

Mike Durkin who handles Youngstown demolitions says the city will use around $500,000 of American Rescue Plan money to have the building demolished.

“It was a fantastic building at one time but the inside — it’s just horrible inside,” said Durkin. “Actually right now it’s loaded with fleas so we had to use Tyvek suits to even go in and do our testing.”

The building is owned by a Brooklyn, New York, company — the owner of which never responded to any of the city’s requests to fix it.

What delayed demolition were the cellphone towers on top of the building but a new location for them has been found.

“It was such a huge expense for the city that we couldn’t do it and with these ARP funds, we’re able to tackle some of these things, these eyesores that we can’t do anything about,” Durkin said.

Bids will be accepted in November and demolition will start after January 1.

Jim Converse has worked to save and rehabilitate buildings in the Wick Park neighborhood but even Converse says Parkway Tower needs to come down.

“We hate to see anything come down,” Converse said.

However, Converse said there’s no money in trying to develop the property.

Youngstown has another 100 to 120 vacant properties that still need to be demolished. After that’s done, Durkin says the city’s housing priorities will change from demolition to repurposing and rehabilitation.

Just a 10-minute walk from Parkway Tower, construction has started on a new duplex.

Common Wealth, Inc. — run by Jim Converse — is building the duplex at the corner of Baldwin and Bryson Streets. It’s part of what’s being called the Elm Eco Village.

“That’s a village that’s designed around ecological principals of energy efficiency, saving the space, using permanent ground cover instead of yards that need mowed and watered and everything — and it’s to try and develop an ecological presence here on the North Side as a way to help the city back toward a more sustainable future,” Converse said.

Common Wealth Inc.’s, next project is to build six, three-unit townhouses on land it owns in the vicinity of Baldwin and Bryson.

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