In 2021, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) acquired the property that formerly housed the Foster Theatre for a renovation project. Now, that project is receiving some more support.

According to YNDC Executive Director, Ian Beniston, Youngstown Sixth Ward Councilwoman, Anita Davis allocated $100,000 in ARP funds for the Foster Theatre redevelopment project.

Beniston tells 21 News the plan is to transform the theater area into four two-bedroom two-bathroom loft style apartments. Beniston says the area is lacking in high-quality, affordable housing so this project would help with that.

Beniston says he doesn't have an exact price point on these units yet, but does say that the units will be affordable to everyone including those with low to moderate income.

In addition to the apartments, Beniston tells us the facade is slated to become a more commercial area.

According to Beniston, this is just one piece of a bigger project to revitalize the Glenwood Avenue corridor with past efforts including the renovation of a fourplex and the addition of a fresh food market to the Glenwood Plaza.

At this point, all the architectural and engineering work is done. Beniston says the next step is to secure all necessary funding. With this new funding from Councilwoman Davis, Beniston says the next step is to wait to hear back on other grants YNDC has applied for.

Beniston tells us YNDC had applied for a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank's Affordable Housing Program in August and should know whether or not they're getting it by December.

If YNDC does get that grant, Beniston tells us they will be in a good position to start the construction process in early 2024 and have it done by late fall of 2024.

The Foster Theatre has quite the history in Youngstown, with local historian and author, Sean Posey telling 21 News the theatre opened up towards the end of the 1930s by a man named Joe Shagrin 

"[Shagrin] was a famed local theater manager. He was a contemporary of the Warner Brothers. His brother, Max actually went out to Hollywood to work for them," Posey said.

Posey said the theatre originally showed family films, as well as serials, but around the 1960s, became more of an arthouse theatre showing more artistic and foreign films that most other theatres in the area did not carry.

"It was what they called an arthouse cinema, so people here can come and see small films, foreign films, films that you would normally have to go to Pittsburgh or Cleveland to see, maybe even films in Pittsburgh and Cleveland didn't get, like something that you would have seen in New York City during the time like Federico Fellini," Posey said.

Eventually in the 1970s, the theatre once again transformed into an adult theatre showing pornographic films due to the fact that the Fosters and similar theatres were suffering financially with many of them switching to strictly showing adult films just to stay in business.

"This is before VHS or DVD. So people who wanted to see films like that actually had to go to a live theater to see them," Posey said.

By the time VHS tapes and DVDs did hit the market, many adult theatres died off, but Posey tells us the Foster lived on until just a few years ago.

"It was probably one of maybe a dozen adult theatres left in the whole country. Most of them closed long before the foster did," Posey said.

According to Posey, over the years, there have been efforts to get the theatre to close down due to it being in a residential neighborhood with children, but none of these efforts were successful.

Posey tells 21 News that while the building will soon no longer be used as a theatre, it's important to preserve it as a piece of cultural and local history.

"I think it represents part of a long tradition of Mahoning Valley theatres that stretches all the way back into the 19th century when you just have live theatres. So today, even though this isn't going to be a theatre going forward, I think it's a good reminder for people who might be curious about that history and might cause them to learn a little bit more about the cultural history of the area," Posey said.

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