A more than three-year-long legal battle over the demolition of a downtown Youngstown restaurant may ending.

According to federal court records, the City of Youngstown has reached a tentative settlement with the owners of the building which formerly housed Anthony’s by the River, which Fire Chief Barry Finley ordered demolished in 2020.

Terms of the draft agreement reached through mediation between the city and property owners Two Bridges LLC have not yet been revealed.

Two Bridges sued the city after Chief Finley had the building at 15 Oak Hill Avenue torn down on August 22, 2020, after declaring it an emergency fire hazard because the roof sank in.

In 2018, Two Bridges purchased the building which had been vacant for four years.

Claiming the building was worth $150,000 before demolition, the property owners alleged in their lawsuit that the city ordinance allowing emergency demolition contains no provision for notifying owners beforehand in violation of state law and constitutional due process.

The city mailed several notices to Two Bridges in the spring and summer of 2019 advising that the building was in unacceptable condition it sent the notices directly to the vacant building. No one at Two Bridges received the notices.

The city also mailed notices directly to the property owner at two other business addresses. However, the mailings were returned by the U.S. Postal Services unclaimed.

Earlier this year, an appellate court denied Youngstown’s challenge to a lower court’s findings that the city wasn't immune from the lawsuit under state law.

The property owners sought damages, attorney fees, and a declaration that the terms of Youngstown’s emergency demolition ordinance were unconstitutional.