SitemapWhen Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. acquired the former Carmelite Monastery last year, leaders weren’t entirely sure what to do with the property near Mill Creek Park.
But now, following a $250,000 renovation, the building is poised to serve as YNDC’s neighborhood action center, along with three apartments on the upper level that will be leased out.
“Given the size of the project, it actually went rather smoothly,” said Tiffany Sokol, YNDC housing director, during a tour of the property Tuesday. “Major renovations started in August, and here we sit in December and it’s done.”
Last year, YNDC came into possession of the property – where thousands of Mahoning Valley residents for years went on weekends to hear the sermons of Fr. Richard Madden – at the request of the late Cece Bersch, a trustee of the monastery’s estate.
“The biggest challenge was just to figure out what to do with a building of this size in the neighborhood, and determining what was the highest and best use that would be of most benefit to the neighborhood here,” Sokol said.
Redeveloping larger, single-family homes “without having an adverse impact on the neighborhood is a real challenge,” she said, largely because family sizes today don’t lend themselves to structures of this size, roughly 7,000 square feet.
“One of the biggest challenges initially was just determining what do we even do with this beautiful property to really honor the historic use of it and what an asset its been to this community for years,” she continued.
A fundraising campaign earlier this year brought in about $80,000 for the project, including $30,000 from the Youngstown Foundation, $15,000 from the Walter and Caroline Watson Foundation and $35,000 raised from donors online.
YNDC will recoup the remaining expenses from the renovation from leases for the three new apartments: a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit that will cost $750 per month, and two one-bedroom units that will go for $600 per month each. The apartments were listed during the renovations and renters are already interested.
The first floor, meanwhile, will be available for community meetings hosted by YNDC as well as local organizations such as neighborhood groups and block watches. The greenspace behind the building – known as “God’s Backyard,” where Madden hosted outdoor services – will provide additional meeting space, said Jack Daugherty, YNDC’s neighborhood stabilization director.
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