SitemapThe city has a tentative deal with a health care provider to purchase the former Bottom Dollar store on the South Side for $150,000 and open a medical facility within 12 months.
City council will vote June 1 to have the board of control declare the former grocery-store property as surplus, turn over the deed to ONE Health Ohio, and allow the board to negotiate a development deal in which the agency would pay $150,000 for the property.
ONE Health Ohio provides medical, dental and behavioral health services with a focus on lower-income people.
Besides the $150,000 purchase, ONE Health Ohio will spend $1 million on converting the closed supermarket into a health care facility, $500,000 on equipment and $200,000 for inventory, said T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s director of community planning and economic development.
The Glenwood Avenue property is appraised at $375,000, and the terms of the development deal have the city selling it for the $150,000 reduced price, Woodberry said. There are no tax abatements or other financial incentives in the proposed deal, she said.
The agency will hire 10 to 15 employees for the facility with an annual payroll of about $696,000, she said. The city would get about $19,000 a year in income tax, Woodberry added.
“We’ve looked at the health needs of those on the South Side,” and they’re currently not being met, said Dionna M. Slagle, ONE Health Ohio’s chief financial officer.
The terms of the tentative deal were discussed Tuesday at a city council housing and economic development committee meeting.
The city wanted to replace Bottom Dollar, which closed in January 2015 after the company was sold, with another supermarket. But numerous attempts to attract a grocery store there were unsuccessful.
As part of the deal with ONE Health Ohio, the business will provide space for a fresh-food market, Woodberry said. Also, the agency will have a room at the site for community organizations to use, she said.
ONE Health Ohio, in business for 30 years, operates six health care facilities, Slagle said. They include the Youngstown Community Health Center on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, three locations in Warren and one each in Newton Falls and Alliance.
“We appreciate you doing this; it’s a much-needed service for the community,” said Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd.
The board of control signed a contract April 20 with Big Dipper Food Co. Inc., a gourmet-candy company, to use the Bottom Dollar building to store and ship inventory through the end of August. The short-term deal allows the business to use the building rent-free.
Big Dipper had offered to lease the property for $1,500 a month for six months with the option to purchase it for $180,000 during those six months.
If the ONE Health Ohio deal had fallen through, the city would have negotiated a deal with Big Dipper, Woodberry said.
City officials want to work with Big Dipper to find a different location in Youngstown for its operation.
To read the full story on vindy.com, click here.