Historic Downtown Building Up For Auction

[northside lurker]

http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/oct/21/federal-building-sells-150000/

[jay]

Three men from Niles, Ohio, bought the Federal Building.  The story is on the front page of the Wednesday, October 21 newspaper.

[jay]

Let us know who bought the building.

[northside lurker]

Walking by at noon, I saw that this building has already been sold.

[AllanY2525]

Jay,

Thanks for posting the link to the website.  I wish they had larger photos,
and more of them... looks like there are some great architectural features left
in the interior of the building.... but no telling what else might still be there,
mainly because of the drop ceilings, etc.

The other thing that I wonder about is: WHY is the owner letting the place go so
cheap?  This is a LOT of building for $150K.

I wonder if any prospective buyers have brought in a building inspector to check
the place out?

[jay]

Federal Building Website

www.100westfederal.com

[AllanY2525]

I would love to see the web site, if someone could please post it here on the forum...
as I am an avid fan of antique homes and buildings...

[northside lurker]

I've heard that too.

I don't know what they have in mind, but I think it would be great if they could set up artists' lofts and let the resident artists use some of the storefronts.

[jay]

On a local radio talk show this morning, a man from Art Youngstown said his group is trying to raise the money to buy the Federal Building.

[northside lurker]

The website address in the sign now works, if anyone is intersted.  Through that link, you can see many pictures, and schematic floor plans.

Unfortunately, much of (but not all) of the historic character this building might have had appears to be gone or covered.  There's cheap wood panelling and dropped ceilings everywhere.  But it still looks like a good deal for $150,000.

[Towntalk]

Again I might be wrong, but I think that the Davis building, Wick Building, and the Federal Building are the last of the truely old downtown buildings prior to 1900.

I'm not sure about the Stambaugh Building. I do know that prior to being an office building it was a department store ... Ewers. They later moved up to West Federal Street, but do not know when the building was built. Prior to its construction, the Park Hotel was located on the site.

The Second National Bank was torn down to make way for the Palace Theater in  about 1927.

[northside lurker]

Thanks for the pictures.  I really like many of the buildings downtown, but I sometimes wish that more of the buildings from this previous "generation," like those in your pictures, were still around.

And yes, by "skyscraper," I'm almost sure that the structure of the building is what makes the difference.  The buildings in the pictures you posted may have been taller, but they were almost certainly masonry structures.

[Towntalk]

Westsider:

Here's the link to the album I referred to:

http://community.webshots.com/album/574808214TkGuDr?vhost=community

Note: The Commercial Hotel was located on the west side of Wick Avenue between Commerce and Wood Street.

[northside lurker]

She might have been referring to the building's construction.  I don't know if it is, or not, but maybe the Federal Building was the city's first relatively tall building constructed with a steel frame? (church steeples can be very tall, but churches are never considered skyscrapers, for example)

[Towntalk]

Not to be disagreeable, but there were other buildings downtown that were as tall ... The Tod House Hotel ... The first Mahoning Bank Building ... The Andrews Hitchcock Building ... The Second National Bank Building ... all on Central Square prior to 1889 and the Mahoning County Court House (Wood and Wick).

Ewers Department Store was also there. This building was purchased by the Stambaughs who added several floors. Looking at the building today you can still see the added floors.

I'll go through my photo library and if the pictures aren't already up on my Webshots site, I'll add them.