What's Happening in Youngstown, OH…

The downtown YMCA in Youngstown, Ohio, was recently renovated, and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on January 19, 2017, although work was finished in November.
The work cost $5 million, and included upgrading both the waste water system and the water system in the building. The project was completed in under a year, despite difficulties that arose almost daily due to the fact the building is 100 years old.

Strollo Architects were the architects on the project, and the firm's Patrick Lankey said that among other things, they found glass floors. The former northern brick exterior wall had drywall over it, and when a wall in another spot was demolished, a staircase was found. The brick wall in particular seems to have appealed to everyone. According to Timothy Hilk, executive director of the YMCA, they used the brick, which has been exposed to the air (and smoke) in Youngstown for 55 years. He thought it might be possible that some of the steel-making dust had become part of the brick, adding to its history.

The overall goal of the contractors and architects was to use as much of the building's history as they could and still create a design that would appeal to contemporary users.

Projects like this can benefit if managers work with a newsletter printing company, which can create a detailed record of the work to be sent to a residents’ database.