Former St. Joseph Community Center demo on hold after developer fails to pull permits

LORAIN — Towering piles of rubble and broken-up foundation walls remain at the site of the former St. Joseph Community Center complex after the developer responsible for its demolition failed to pull permits to finish the job, city officials said. The city of Lorain issued a stop-work order March 30 after finding property owner A7 Development and a demolition company tied to it, Earth Exchange Inc., never sought the proper permits for all of the buildings it had torn down, Lorain Building, Housing and Planning Director Max Upton said. Massachusetts-based A7 Development purchased the former hospital complex from South Shore Development Corp. LLC in March 2020 for $150,000. The only demolition permits the city had for the property date from May and October of 2020, allowing Earth Exchange Inc. to tear down Building G of the complex and perform an interior demolition of the former medical center. All Star Dismantling LLC, out of New Jersey, lists performing the demolition on its website, including drone video footage of some of the work on its website. A7 Development partner Karl Youkstetter is listed as the president, secretary and treasurer of Earth Exchange Inc. on the Massachusetts secretary of state's website. He did not return a request for comment Friday. There was an agreement that the developer would pull permits one structure at a time, Mayor Jack Bradley said, with plans to level everything but the parking garage. In the months since those original permits were issued, crews tore down the bulk of the former hospital at West 21st Street and Broadway, ripping away several stories of brick walls and chewing through what was winding corridors of tiled floors walked by generations of Lorain residents. Bradley suspects the demolition company took all the materials it could scrap to make money, and then left. Bradley said the city also received word Earth Exchange Inc. was dumping debris into the basement and were planning on covering it up before selling it to another developer. Lorain ordinances require those foundations be jackhammered out and debris and dirt be removed entirely, with fines assessed daily until the work is done, Upton said. Failure to comply with city building codes can result in up to a $1,000 fine and a misdemeanor conviction. Each day of noncompliance is considered a separate offense, according to the demo permits issued. More than $250,000 in back taxes and delinquent assessments are still owed on the site, something Bradley said he'd been willing to work with the developer on prior to the demolition debacle. It is unclear what became of outstanding utility bills, including an electric bill that was once in the city's name. "I had told them show me some good faith, demo the hospital and then we'll talk about doing something about the back taxes — that's when they started the demolition," Bradley said. "Then they called me a few weeks ago and asked about if we could talk about the back taxes and I said you haven't completed the demo yet. I felt like they were trying to blackmail me." Now, those back taxes may be leverage for the city to take ownership of the property and clean up the mess left behind. Bradley said the city plans to "charge them with every code violation," and start foreclosure proceedings. While it's not a quick process, Bradley hopes once the proceedings start either Earth Exchange Inc. will finish the job properly, or the city will eventually take ownership and be able to use federal funds to raze the site. He said once the city gets service on the property owner and foreclosure proceedings move forward, A7 Development will be unable to sell the property, and it is Bradley's understanding there is another company willing to buy it to build affordable housing or commercial spaces. "It's one of these situations where we're going to try to put their back up against a wall and make them realize that they're not going to make a profit if they don't do the job correctly," Bradley said. St. Joseph Hospital opened in its Broadway-adjacent space in 1916, with an addition built in 1950. The hospital closed in 1997. The center later housed offices including political candidates' campaign headquarters and the Veterans Affairs clinic before it was vacated in 2015. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.