YOUNGSTOWN – The city submitted the winning – and only – offer at a sheriff’s sale today to purchase the foreclosed 21-acre site of the failed Chill-Can property on the lower East Side with plans to use it for economic development.

The opening – and winning – bid for the 86-parcel property at the sale was $1,379,580, two-thirds the price of the Mahoning County auditor’s value.

“We are glad to put this issue behind us and turn our focus towards building something that will benefit both our residents and economy for the long-term,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said in a statement.

Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled Nov. 25 in favor of Youngstown and MS Consultants Inc., the two lead plaintiffs in the foreclosure case against M.J. Joseph Development Corp., the former Chill-Can’s parent company, as well as the county treasurer’s office, which is owed delinquent property taxes, that a sheriff’s sale could be held using the county auditor’s value for the lots.

The $43,270 in unpaid property taxes would be provided to the treasurer’s office by the city. Also, the city will have to pay the court costs and any other fees associated with the sale to the sheriff’s office.

Durkin ruled Aug. 22 that M.J. Joseph owes $1.5 million to Youngstown plus 3% interest from Nov. 21, 2022, and $322,908 to MS plus 18% interest since Oct. 5, 2018, as well as $2,650 in court fees to the two and the delinquent taxes.

The city used the $1.5 million it is owed as well as that it owns numerous properties in and around the Chill-Can site to purchase the location.

The city is owed the $1.5 million for water and wastewater grants it gave M.J. Joseph to develop the property.

MS is owed the $322,908 for unpaid design work on the supposed project.

For more, read Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com