SitemapThe new Glenwood Business Center in Youngstown will be at more than 50% occupancy by the end of the month, Anthony Trevena told members of the Western Reserve Port Authority’s board of directors at its monthly meeting Wednesday.
Inspiring Minds will be an anchor tenant of the South Side building, Trevena reported. Trevena is director of the Northeast Ohio Development and Finance Authority, the port authority’s economic development division. The Glenwood Avenue project was among several that Trevena updated for board members during the meeting, which began with a moment of silence in memory of former board member Don Hanni III, who died Tuesday. The port authority acquired the 2246 Glenwood Ave. building in May with plans to sell it to Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. within 18 months. YNDC ended up purchasing the structure in August. An Oct. 31 event is scheduled to showcase the property with local officials and representatives of Wells Fargo Foundation, which in June awarded the city and YNDC a $150,000 grant to support renovation of the building. Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley previously used the building as its distribution center. Other potential tenants YNDC is working with include a food processing company and a tenant for part of the property’s warehouse space, Trevena said. The building has about 20,000 square feet of space. The port authority, using a $50,000 community development block grant provided by the city, also will offer microenterprise counseling services, he said. “So you’re not just putting enterprises into the building. This is to help them become successful and teach them fiscal competency,” he remarked. Ian Beniston, YNDC’s executive director, is even more optimistic than Trevena about the building. By Oct. 31, when an event with city officials and Wells Fargo is planned, he said he expects a “super majority” of the available space to be leased. Beniston also doesn’t expect this to be the last such project YNDC undertakes in the city, he said Wednesday afternoon. “One of the reasons we undertook this is because we saw a need for move-in ready commercial space, not just along Glenwood but neighborhoods in Youngstown in general outside of downtown,” he said. To read the full story from The Business Journal, click here.