Board of Control approves grant for Youngstown Business Incubator's plans for former Vindicator building
The Youngstown Board of Control has approved a $1.35 million grant for the Youngstown Business Incubator's (YBI's) plans for the former Vindicator building in downtown Youngstown.
The funding from the grant will support YBI's planned conversion of the former Vindicator building into a hub for advanced manufacturing and add to the Valley's leading footprint in the manufacturing industry through the presence of YBI and America Makes.
According to a press release, the final step for this project to be fully realized is the awarding of a $26 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development.
Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown is quoted in the release saying this is an investment into the city's economic future spanning beyond just downtown.
"Having an innovation hub would mark a major turning point for the city and be a further catalyst to the momentum we are seeing again downtown. My administration [is] working to do everything it can to ensure it comes to Youngstown," Mayor Brown said.
The city's cut of money is coming from its business development fund, and was agreed upon by both Mayor Brown's administration and city council.
"We had to have some skin in the game if we were going to be competitive for this innovation hub to be located in downtown Youngstown," Brown said Friday afternoon.
"This is going to really be a combination of what we're trying to do with 20 Federal (Place), with the $57 million investment downtown. So this is just another step and another piece that we're moving to see the economic development that's happening in the city of Youngstown now," Brown added.
As for the $26 million from Columbus, Brown described it as a very competitive grant. He's confident the city set itself apart from the other applicants.
"When they're considering your application, they want to know how much did the city put in, how much did the county put in, how much did the private sector put in and they kind of give you benchmarks of what you need to do and this is just helping us meet that benchmark."
No word yet when the city will hear whether it earned that state grant money, but Mayor Brown tells 21 News he expects to hear at almost any time.
