Lorain stays demolition on YMCA building, adds other properties to list

LORAIN — The former YMCA building in South Lorain will see a stay of demolition — for now. The building at 1769 East 28th St. came before the city's Demolition Board of Appeals on Thursday. Members granted a 90-day stay for a potential new owner to determine whether the aging structure could be rehabbed. The hulking South Lorain staple has been vacant for more than 20 years, and the years have not been kind to the brick structure where scores of Lorain residents once learned to swim and where Republic Steel officials later roamed office hallways until it closed in 2004. Since then, it has passed through a string of owners, including local developers Jon Veard and Tony Giardini's company JT Lorain Properties LLC. The pair planned to open a charter school there after purchasing it for about $26,000 in late 2021. The project did not move forward, and the property transferred to the Cleveland-based Galilean Theological Center in 2023. The westside religious school planned to expand its footprint into South Lorain with a wraparound service center, the Rev. Felix Nunez said during Thursday's meeting, but lacked funding to complete the much-needed renovations. Instead, Nunez planned to donate the property to Marilyn Vicente, founder of The Queen's Corner, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting victims of human trafficking. The transfer has not happened yet, but Vicente came to Thursday's meeting to request the stay of demolition while she gathers funding to turn the building into a place for child victims of human trafficking to stay. Lorain Building Inspector Andres Arocho gave a report on the sprawling property's condition, including its broken windows, extensive water damage, problems with electrical HVAC and plumbing systems and a basement pool still full of water. Safety/Service Director Rey Carrion, who previously lived in and represented the ward where the YMCA building sits, said Vicente has a noble cause, but the city must make sure the building's rehab is feasible and the nonprofit's funding sustainable. The property will require an engineer's report to determine its structural stability, as the back wall appears to be separating from it according to Arocho's inspection. Matt Kusznir, Building, Housing and Planning director, suggested Vicente get the property sealed up, including boarding its broken windows and clearing debris and overgrowth, while a structural engineer reviews the building. Councilwoman Mary Springowski, D-at Large, has a sentimental attachment to the YMCA building as it once housed her father, Jerry Donovan, when he came from Ireland and was where a younger Mary took swim lessons as a child. She was also in support of a social service dedicated to human trafficking victims, noting Lorain is a midpoint between Cleveland and Toledo and the area is in a corridor once frequented by mob movements between New York City and Chicago. "We've let so many industrial sites sit fallow for how many years," she said. "I think holding this in abeyance is the right thing to do." The YMCA building was built in 1924 and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992 for its social and civic significance. Other properties Lorain added eight additional properties to its demolition list at Thursday's meeting, including three owned by the same family and four whose owners are deceased. Properties at 2076 E. 28th St., 3250 Pearl Ave. and 835 Washington Ave. have owners connected to one another who are well known on demolition meeting agendas. FGSK Properties LLC owns the East 28th Street and Washington Avenue homes; the man's daughter-in-law, Samantha Wooten, owns the Pearl Avenue home, according to city officials. FGSK Properties is registered to Gustav Krause, of Lorain. Neither owner appeared at Thursday's meeting. The Pearl Avenue property, a former auto repair shop and gas station, was originally approved for demolition in 2023. Arocho said the reason the building was not demolished two years ago was that it was transferred to a new owner and that owner applied for a stay of demolition and then let the building sit vacant. The city seeks outside funding to tear down the old auto shop, which will need environmental studies to determine any additional remediation needed as it was a gas station. There is $4,130 in delinquent taxes owed on the property. The East 28th Street property had extensive roof damage and water damage throughout, Arocho said. It has been vacant for about a decade and has nearly $12,000 owed in delinquent real estate taxes. "This property epitomizes the problem we have in the city," Carrion said. "This is one property that I complained about every year of the four years I served on Council." Chief Building Official Dave Faciana said the property was on a prior version of the city's demolition list, but officials lacked funding to move forward with tearing it down. It seeks funding from the county. The Washington Avenue property has more than $8,700 in delinquent real estate taxes owed and, like the three other properties discussed, was on a prior version of the city's demolition list in 2022, but at the time inspectors were unable to perform a warrant search due to safety concerns as there were large dogs lose inside the home. Arocho said when inspecting the property earlier this month, portions of the floor were near buckling due to water damage and there were wild animals and insects throughout the property. "You name it, it was there," Arocho said, adding that rooms were filled with debris and evidence of squatters. Faciana and Councilwoman Victoria Kempton, D-2nd Ward, said the property was infested with fleas and bedbugs and caused extensive problems for the neighbors. "These are absolutely bad actors in our community that are raping our community with these homes and not doing what they need to do," Kempton said of the owners. Also added to the list were 1105-1107 W. Ninth St., 1617 E. 33rd St., 3222 Eagle Ave. and 315 E. 26th St., whose wonders were all deceased. 1130 W. 17th St., another vacant property, was also added to the list. "We're just trying to clean up Ward 2 one house at a time," Faciana said. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.