The historic Huntington building in downtown Youngstown on Market Street may soon serve a new purpose.

There are plans to renovate the structure into an apartment space, and developers presented the idea to the city Tuesday.

The building was originally finished being built in the 1920s and thanks to a local architect and support from the city, the owners plan on renovating it into both an affordable and high-end living space.

"It's almost like it was meant to be because it just had the right size and right configuration to let apartments happen here," Canfield architect leading the project, Annissa Neider, said. 

The building currently houses some businesses and a convenience store, but soon there's set to be 72 apartment units. It will be a mix of studio, one-bed and two-bed apartments and the first four floors will house commercial businesses.

"I think this is coming at the perfect time," 1st Ward Youngstown Councilman Julius Oliver said, "With Steelite moving its headquarters here bringing about 70 employees, what better to have a whole building be renovated with more living space?"

Councilman Oliver said by adding more housing downtown, Youngstown will attract businesses like grocery stores, but first, he said the city needs the traffic to accommodate those businesses.

"The more people we get wanting to live downtown and living downtown, the more businesses will want to set up there to basically take care of the needs of those people," he said. 

When it comes to the timeline of this project and the cost of rent per unit, that's all still being sorted out by the developers, but Oliver said he wouldn't be surprised if the project took a couple of years or less.