The former California Palms Hotel and later rehab facility in Austintown has been sold to a New Jersey company.

According to the Mahoning County Auditor's website, the former drug rehab facility was sold to GEM Consulting Group, LLC from Jackson, New Jersey for $6,550,000 on Sept. 12. According to the New Jersey Division Of Revenue Business Registration the registering agent for the business is Moshe Saffer, and the business was first registered in Dec. 2017.

Austintown Township Zoning Inspector Darren L. Crivelli said his office doesn't know for certain the planned use for the site, but his office has only received one inquiry on the facility. In June, a law-firm based out Boca Raton, Florida requested a compliance letter relating to 5455 Clarkins Drive, the location of California Palms. The law firm was seeking confirmation that the property was approved to be used to provide inpatient treatment services for persons with substance use disorders and/or mental health disorders, specifically, a drug and alcohol detoxification and residential inpatient service use. 

In April, a Los Angeles-based lending firm took over ownership of the Austintown building when a Writ of Restitution was served on Sebastian Rucci, the owner of the 200-bed California Palms Addiction Recovery Campus at Route 46 and Interstate 80.

In October 2019, a judge ordered the addiction recovery center to vacate the property over a $4 million debt owed to Pender.

California Palms was renovated as a hotel in 2014 when Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley opened. 
 
The 3 acres parcel was first constructed as a hotel in 1972.