Youngstown Osteopathic building gets new mission

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Minnesota developers who paid $1.25 million for the former Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital building on the city’s North Side expect to fill it up quickly with some of the region’s most effective nonprofit agencies.

Nonprofits will want to relocate there, says Craig Howse of Metro Development Properties in Minneapolis, because the new owner will discount the rent, allowing them to devote more resources to services instead of operating expenses. For some nonprofits that need extra help, the rent may drop to zero.

Nonprofit agencies need not apply. Tenancy will be by invitation only, and Metro Development staff has begun due diligence by meeting with agency leaders in the region. The three nonprofit agencies housed in the building – Head Start Food Service, Home Weatherization and the Women, Infants and Children’s nutrition program – will stay.

“The folks that are behind this don’t like drawing a lot of attention to themselves,” Howse explains. “Their vision is just to support organizations that are doing good work by providing them with facilities that underwrite and gird their work.”

Lease agreements typically include free or reduced rent, but the nonprofits pay a share of utility costs, maintenance and other operating expenses.

The building in Youngstown is one of three acquired more recently, one of which is another former hospital of similar size, the 230,000-square-foot Mount Sinai Hospital in Minneapolis. That building houses Hope Academy, a private, inner-city Christian school that Howse calls one of Metro Development’s greatest success stories; other nonprofit tenants will move in soon.

So why is this Minneapolis group coming to Youngstown? The hospital building was the initial draw, Howse relates, because Metro Development has found that former hospitals work well for its purposes. “When we did some research and we learned about the higher unemployment and saw some of the needs in the area, it made us feel even more certain that this would be a good thing,” he says.

So why is this Minneapolis group coming to Youngstown? The hospital building was the initial draw, Howse relates, because Metro Development has found that former hospitals work well for its purposes. “When we did some research and we learned about the higher unemployment and saw some of the needs in the area, it made us feel even more certain that this would be a good thing,” he says.