New rec facilities to be built on North Side

[yfdgricker]

New rec facilities to be built on North Side
Story by David Skolnick from the Youngstown Vindicator Web Site on December 14th, 2006.

YOUNGSTOWN — A former 90-unit public housing project on the city's North Side will be demolished to make room for recreational facilities.

Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority board approved a $313,250 contract today to hire Marcor Remediation Inc. of Cranberry, pa., to take down 17 structures, 16 of them former housing facilities, on Otis Street, near Youngstown State University and St. Elizabeth Health Center.

Marcor's proposal was the least expensive among eight companies seeking the work. It was also below the YMHA architect's estimate of $435,563 for the job.

The demolition could take up to six months, depending on the weather, and the recreational facilities will be done about three months after that.

The project is a key component of YMHA's Hope VI Revitalization Program. Hope VI is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program to redevelop government-supported housing developments.

YMHA received a $19.75 million grant in March 2003 to revitalize the neighborhood formerly called Westlake Terrace and now known as Arlington Heights.

YMHA is building 105 housing units with money from the federal grant in that area.

The concrete and brick buildings on Otis Street, constructed in 1938, were vacated last year as part of the project, said Megan Shutes, YMHA's Hope VI coordinator.

In place of the buildings as well as on a piece of the nearby Chase Park will be an indoor family recreation center, three basketball courts, a tennis court, a baseball field, golf putting greens and a small netted driving range, a playground and a multipurpose field for football and soccer, she said.

When the project is completed, ownership of the recreation facility will be given to the city for use as a public park, Shutes said.

Also today, the board re-elected Robert E. Bush Jr., a Mahoning County assistant prosecutor and former Youngstown police chief, chairman. Francis Gray, a longtime East Side citizen activist, was re-elected vice chairwoman of the five-member board.