The decision was made this week to demolish the Realty Building after it was severely damaged in the explosion that rocked Youngstown last month.

Some local leaders are still trying to save it because of the building's location and history.

The city just approved another structural engineer specializing in restoring historic buildings to take a look at the building to potentially preserve it. It's a move that has a downtown advocate and Chairman of Youngstown Cityscape, Scott Schulick hoping for good news.

"City council, particularly Councilman Oliver, is engaged in this process. What's complex about it is the fact that it's a private owner and so there are certain things that the city can do and certain things that the city cannot do and certain things that advocate groups like many of the downtown stakeholders can try to do," Schulick said. "But it is going to come down to the owner recognizing how important this is to the future of downtown and the community that if the building can be stabilized, then it can likely be saved," he said.

Considering all the construction and now the explosion, Schulick says the business climate downtown as a whole has been stagnant.

"Between the COVID crisis, and the multiple-year road construction, we've seen Eastern Gateway, that building is likely to go offline. We now have the hotel shut down, International Tower shut down, there's construction work at 20 Federal Place," Schulick said. "You know, a short time ago, downtown seemed to be really turning the corner and a lot of good things were happening and right now we've almost come to a standstill and the longer that perimeter of 210 feet surrounds the building, the longer everything, at least in the main center of town, is at a standstill," he said.

Schulick says the economic impact of tearing the building down could become more of a headache than we realize.

"It's just not going to be a quick thing to tear down the building, it could take several months," Schulick said. "The stabilization process may take several weeks or months and then if it is to be demolished, that may take a longer period too. So things may be shut down as they are right now in a demolition longer than if it can be stabilized and then moving forward to restore," he said.

Schulick tells 21 News it's all just overwhelming.

"I am frustrated because I've been working on downtown revitalization through Youngstown Cityscape and other endeavors over the years for I think 27 years now and you see all the progress that's made in a lot of blood, sweat and tears on the part of a lot of good people," Schulick said. "And you see that all coming, you know, coming to an end here in the short term, if things don't start to move in a different direction," he said.

Councilman Julius Oliver said they hope to have the report from this latest engineer by Monday.