The mission to save Realty is still underway, councilman calls upon Chief Building official

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Despite the building owners and the mayor deciding that demolition is the best option , there is still a group of people working to save Youngtown’s historic Realty Building after a major gas explosion in May.

One of them is councilman Julius Oliver who wants the engineering firm hired by the city — Structural Systems Repair Group (SSRG) — to have access to the property . The owners, YO Properties 47 , denied them entry Thursday.

Just because it may be the best outcome for the owner, doesn’t mean it’s the best outcome for Youngstown’s downtown and our citizens.

Councilman Julius Oliver

Oliver said he wants to know the real condition of the building, whether it can actually be fixed, or if it must come down.

To help answer those questions Oliver sent a letter to Mahoning County’s Chief Building Official Jeff Uroseva in which Oliver cited a section of the Ohio Building Code that allows a building official or a designee to enter the structure.

Oliver said everything has been looked at from a demolition standpoint — not restoration.

“We don’t know what’s the best outcome without getting an engineering firm in there that’s going to give us the evaluation that says this is what’s possible,” Oliver said.

Recently, Uroseva gave the owners of the Realty Building until July 5 to come up with a repair or demolition plan, but first Oliver wants investigators with the Cincinnati-based engineering firm SSRG to have access to the building to do their analysis.

“And what I think the city should do is put those seismic GPS things on the building regardless, stabilize the building regardless, and send the owner the bill,” Oliver said.

Oliver wants every effort made to save Realty Tower. He points to the money spent to redo the downtown streets and to restore the Stambaugh Building into the DoubleTree Hotel.

“What I don’t want to see is another hole in the ground,” he said.

Uroseva said Oliver’s request for access to the Realty Tower is under review by himself and Youngstown’s Law Department. He said they would meet Friday to discuss it further.

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