Since the explosion at Realty Tower nearly a month ago, Youngstown councilman Julius Oliver has been clear how it's affected him.
Having once lived in the building and it being in his ward, it's personal. And it's why he couldn't let it be demolished without a fight.

"Now the city of Youngstown has something else to look at," Oliver said Thursday during city council's meeting.

He and fellow councilman Mike Ray got put in touch with Structural Systems Repair Group out of Cincinnati.
It specializes in preserving and restoring historic buildings.

"They looked at the building, they looked at the other engineers' reports and they decided that they wanted to come and check this out," said Oliver.

The firm sent drones and manned crews inside during the day Thursday.
From their examination came a glimmer of hope.

"They said that they could fairly quickly stabilize that building and get it to the point where it's safe," Oliver explained. "You could open up the (DoubleTree) hotel...(residents of) International Towers can move back in, downtown can reopen and from that point the owner can decide, you know, do we leave it up or tear it down?"

City leaders will get to review a full report from SSRG Friday with details like cost and a timeline.

Council also voted to establish an Economic Rapid Response Grant program.
It'll give downtown businesses impacted by the explosion a cut of $200,000 out of the city's business development fund.
Perhaps enough for at least some cautious optimism.

"I can't guarantee the residents will ever get back in the building, I can't guarantee that the building will stand," said Oliver. "But at least there's a company in place now that is an expert at restoring historic buildings that have suffered through some type of disaster."

Reporter's note: 21 News had more questions about the crews from Greenheart that had been working in the basement of Realty Tower and the vetting those crews went through. We also wanted to ask about a notice some residents got that never mentioned demolishing the building. Mayor Brown has reportedly directed that any information about the building come straight from him. We couldn't ask him Thursday night because he's out of town on official business.