‘Rally to Save Realty’ group demands saving the structure

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – As owners of the Realty Building have begun submitting paperwork to county officials, a group of people with hopes of saving the building rallied together Friday.

They called it the “Rally to Save Realty.” Downtown Youngstown stakeholders Derrick McDowell from Youngstown Flea, Scott Schulick from Youngstown CityScape, and Aspasia Lyras from Penguin City organized the rally with hopes of drawing everyone’s attention to the issue and saving the building.

“We say that if the building’s still standing, we have an opportunity to fight to save it,” said McDowell.

A group showed up to Penguin City where McDowell, Schulick, and Councilman Julius Oliver spoke to the crowd.

“It’s about getting residents back in their homes, it’s about getting businesses restarted, and demolition doesn’t necessarily guarantee that’s going to happen any faster,” Schulick said. “This is a big issue for downtown, which is virtually shut down right now because of all of the inaction over the last month or so.”

The group then marched to the site of the explosion and posted a list of demands.

Their demands are to stabilize the building, bring the building owners back to the table and work together to save the structure.

“The immediate attention that we need is from the building owners who are ultimately the decision-makers in this process,” said McDowell.

They say while others are focused on demolition, they want a voice too.

“We’re hoping that this rally to save Realty reaches them in a way that speaks volumes about the heart we have to want to talk with them and want to work with them,” McDowell said.

As a business owner herself, Lyras says it’s been difficult. She and the other downtown business owners are being challenged daily.

“I feel like I’ve invested not only in this building but in all of downtown,” she said.

“There’s no other way to save the soul of the city of Youngstown than to save Realty Tower,” McDowell said.

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