YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown officials and their consulting firm have met about a half-dozen times with the proposed redeveloper of the 20 Federal Place building downtown, although it has not yet been decided whether the city council will hear a formal presentation as planned on Sept. 20. November.

“It’s going well,” Doug Rasmussen, CEO and CEO of Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners, the city’s St. Louis-based consulting firm, said of the 20 Federal Place project. “We are looking at their financial model and their proposal for the building.”

Rasmussen is referring to Bluelofts Inc., a Dallas company, which was the only one to respond to the city’s request for redevelopment proposals for the nine-story building before the Sept. 16 deadline.

Before seeking proposals, the timeline for the redevelopment of the city-owned building at 20 W. Federal St. was for the city council to choose the company to carry out the project at its Nov. 20 meeting. That was still the plan after Bluelofts became the only interested party.

But that timeline remains uncertain, Rasmussen said Thursday. He said he should have a better idea next week.

“The goal is to move the project forward on schedule, but we want to do our due diligence,” Rasmussen said. “It’s a balance between both and then making the presentation to the city council to get their opinion. “Part of our due diligence is the financial model and capital.”

Bluelofts, founded in 2018, purchased properties in Cleveland, Dallas, Fort Worth and Atlanta with plans to convert them into residential spaces.

The only project the company completed is the former Ohio Bell headquarters, now called The Bell, in Cleveland, which was redeveloped into 367 market-rate apartments with some commercial space available. That happened with the help of another developer after its initial partner, Wolfe RE Management LLC, faced foreclosure on its stake in the 16-story property. Wolfe, a frequent Bluelofts partner, lost two other projects to foreclosure, according to The Real Deal, a real estate publication.

Bluelofts’ proposal for 20 Federal Place is to convert the building into approximately 125 housing units (some market-rate apartments and others to rent to the area’s workforce) with commercial space.

“It’s very much a housing project,” Rasmussen said.

Because the city did not accept Bluelofts’ proposal, it is not considered public record, so details have not been released.

A contractor completed a $7.4 million partial demolition and asbestos abatement project at the downtown building last month. The city received a $6.9 million state grant, announced in June 2022, to pay for most of that work.

Desmone Architects, a Pittsburgh firm that was chosen more than three years ago to redevelop the building, secured a $10 million state historic preservation tax credit, announced in December, for 20 Federal Place. That credit also comes with a $14 million federal historic preservation tax credit.

Rasmussen said Thursday that the state tax credit requires the city to take the next step in redeveloping 20 Federal Place by early next year.

“We have spoken with the State and it is not that we will not meet the deadline, but we have the ability to extend it,” he said.

One problem was that the city was delayed by the May 28 gas explosion at Realty Tower, a former 13-story building near 20 Federal Place, and its subsequent demolition, Rasmussen said.

“The state recognizes the importance of this project to downtown,” he said of 20 Federal Place.

A Desmone umbrella organization, 20 Federal Place LLC, has a 40-year lease on the building and controls the tax credits. The lease may be terminated and it remains uncertain what role Desmone will play in any potential redevelopment of 20 Federal Place.

Desmone’s application to the state for the tax credits, made without the knowledge of city officials, lists an $82.1 million project but provides no details.

In his proposal accepted to the city on June 16, 2021, Desmone proposed four floors of residential housing with a rooftop restaurant, one floor of rentable office space, one floor of coworking space, a food hall, and space for activities on the ground floor, and a parking lot. basement lot.

That project, costing $49.1 million, has been scrapped.

The city purchased 20 Federal Place in November 2004 after Phar-Mor, a national retailer, closed. The property was the Phar-Mor Center, the company’s corporate headquarters. Before that, the 332,000-square-foot building was the flagship location of Strouss Department Store for many decades.

There were 19 tenants, occupying about 20% of the building before eviction notices were sent in July 2022. Some tenants were given an extension.