Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown issued a release Friday stating his support for the tenants of 20 Federal Place, the city-owned building that earlier this week delivered eviction notices to all businesses in the building.

The evictions gave the businesses 30 or 60 days to close up and move.

The $74 million dollar brownfield remediation grant/construction project won't begin until after the city applies for a historic tax credit of $23 million, a credit they say is already guaranteed.

The news release from the mayor's office said the city hired Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners of St. Louis MO, a consulting team hired in June 2020 through the Opportunity Appalachia Planning Assistance Grant to assist the city with the 20 Federal Place redevelopment.

The release said the Steadfast outreach team has started contacting tenants to schedule meetings with business owners and will be in the City of Youngstown beginning Tuesday, July 19 to conduct one-on-one meetings with the businesses. The letter stated that Steadfast is coming to town to meet with the owners of the business "to fully understand their business and operational needs as a result of the pending closing of the building."

Doug Rasmussen of Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners said that the team would be in town for 3 days next week to assess the needs of each business and then to come up with a development plan for each.

Rasmussen said there are more than 20 businesses they will be working with, but no timeline is currently set until they have the opportunity to meet with each business individually.

Of the 23 businesses receiving eviction notifications, nine received 30 days to get out, seven received 60 days to close, while three were given 180 days to get out, based on their lease agreement, according to Rasmussen.

The team will be led by Sarah Scribner, Project Manager of Steadfast City is leading the relocation of tenants by the city. The release states "Steadfast City will be acting as the single point of contact on the city's behalf to collaboratively work with each business to help retain and successfully transition them to other locations in the City.

"We recognize that the progression in receiving grant funds, and remediating 20 Federal Place for its eventual redevelopment, has caused a disruption to several tenants who are important contributors to our economy and valued members of the city's downtown business community. Since receiving the Brownfield Remediation Grant, along with an aggressive June 30, 2023 completion deadline, we are moving forward with our implementation of specialized assistance for the tenants leasing space in the 20 Federal Place Building." said Mayor Brown.

The 20 Federal Place building is a historic Staple in Youngstown, it was the Strauss Department Store back in 1926, then May Co. bought the building in 1948. It was later combined with Kaufmann's brand in 1986 and then taken over by PharMor drug store in 1988. About thirteen years later, the city acquired the building in 2001.
 
The statement concluded by saying "the city looks forward to working actively and collaboratively with tenants in the building to ensure their continued success in downtown Youngstown."