An apartment building in downtown Youngstown near the Chase Bank building that recently exploded will be evacuated due to safety concerns.

During a press conference, Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown said the Realty Tower building is still structurally unsafe and the nearby International Towers building is to be evacuated. Mayor Brown says residents are given 72 hours to evacuate the building.

Mayor Brown says the reason for waiting to order the evacuation is the city was waiting for the report from the structural engineer recommending tenants to evacuate.

The mayor says he expects to hear back from the property manager of International Towers Tuesday afternoon on how they plan to go about the evacuation process.

International towers has 165 apartments housed in the building and only a few of them have more than one person residing in them. About 170 people are estimated to reside in the building.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director of Public Works Chuck Shasho says there is a danger of imminent collapse of the building due to the damage sustained on the first floor of the building.

"The collapse of the first floor of the building has removed the horizontal support of three exterior columns on the north side of the building facade effectively changing the effective length of the columns and the slenderness ratio makes the columns suspect for collapse," Shasho said.

Shasho says the city will be meeting with the building owners on the potential stabilization or demolition of the building. No meeting has officially been scheduled yet, but officials say they are expecting to hear from the owner and the insurance company Tuesday.

Bob Hannon with the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley says the United Way alongside nonprofits such as Red Cross and Catholic Charities are stepping up to help tenants of both buildings who have been displaced.

"I can tell you in the last 45 minutes, I've probably had six restaurants text me that these people need food. I've had others reach out that they need cots. ... So the community's already stepping up contacting United Way," Hannon said.

Youngstown Fire Chief Barry Finley has notified the property manager that the evacuation process must begin but did not specify when.

Mayor Brown tells 21 News the city is working with the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and its community partners to create an evacuation and relocation plan.

In terms of evacuation immediacy, Mayor Brown says residents do not need to evacuate right away and the city will be meeting with building management to establish a schedule of evacuation.

When asked why the evacuation was not more immediate, Mayor Brown told reporters the city needed time to come up with an evacuation plan.

"We could have said 24 hours, but that would probably have been unrealistic looking at the medical issues that are there, so we're going with an evacuation plan that I think fits that building and those who are in that building at this time," Mayor Brown said.

"We are going to work with our community partners to find the best course of action for the residents during this difficult situation," Mayor Brown said.

According to the release, the city is working with the appropriate agencies and organizations to find solutions for International Towers tenants as quickly as possible.

First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver adds that anyone wishing to help tenants of the International Towers and Realty Tower should get in touch with United Way.

Residents were initially evacuated following the explosion but were then told by the city that it was safe to return home despite no structural engineer having examined Realty Tower.

The city met with the structural engineer on Monday afternoon. After this meeting, Assistant Law Director Adam Buente told 21 News there were no updates. The evacuation notice was sent to 21 News shortly after this.

Mayor Brown will hold a press conference Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. with more details on this matter.

21 News crews on the scene spoke to residents who told us they were not informed of this evacuation notice.

This is a breaking news story. Stay connected with 21 News online and on air for the latest updates.