Staff photo / R. Michael Semple From left, Wiley Runnestrand of Bazetta, Chuck George of Canfield, and Mike Martof of Kent, are managing partners of West Warren Development LLC, which plans to build a multimillion dollar development suitable for mid-sized modern manufacturing and warehouse / distribution in Warren at the former Westlawn neighborhood. Immediately over their shoulders is where Western Reserve High School once stood. In the distance to the east is the area of the former Westlawn.

WARREN — A large scale multimillion dollar development suitable for mid-sized modern manufacturing, warehouse / distribution and research / development is planned for a vast stretch of vacant, raw land on Warren’s west side.

Ground could be broken on the first speculative building in the new Warren West Industrial Park — at the site of the former Westlawn neighborhood — as soon as late spring with construction starting in earnest sometime in the fall.

That’s according to Wiley Runnestrand, managing partner with West Warren Development LLC, which on Wednesday acquired the land — about 86 acres — from the Western Reserve Port Authority.

“Right now, basically what we are doing is developing a concept to demonstrate there is demand for this type of space in the (Mahoning) Valley. It has been a long time since we’ve seen new construction of speculative space that’s up for rent,” said Runnestrand. “We’ve had TJX, we’ve had Ultium (Cells), but those are purpose built with end users. This is us basically saying those end users are going to drive demand for property and that is what we are going to provide.”

“Once we prove it with the first building, we’ll continue to grow,” he said.

The first building planned is a 100,000-square-foot structure with 32-foot ceilings. The initial investment is more than $10 million.

Runnestrand said the company has prospects for the space, but not a tenant yet. “There have been a number of projects that didn’t come to the area locally because this type of space didn’t exist, so we believe demand is strong,” he said.

Construction could be completed in 18 to 24 months.

“Our hope is this building is leased up relatively quickly and then we can move onto the rest of the site,” Runnestrand said.

THE COMPANY

West Warren Development LLC is an affiliate of Sapientia Ventures, which was founded by Runnestrand of Bazetta, Mike Martof of Kent and Canfield businessman Chuck George, CEO of Hapco Inc., Strangpresse and Triptech.

Also connected to Sapientia, which is the Latin word for wisdom, is GreenBoard IT, an electronics recycling company the three founded and operate from the former Berk Enterprises warehouse on East Market Street.

Their entry into speculative real estate starts to fill a large hole in local business attraction and development efforts — the lack of marketable buildings suitable for modern business. It’s not that buildings don’t exist, it’s they lack certain attributes that make them attractive — from low ceilings to environmental issues to the absence of technology.

“Creating more ready sites is an important priority for the Valley, which is why we have invested so much of our capacity in making this a strategic initiative,” said Guy Coviello, president / CEO, Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber. “West Warren is a success because we have so many willing partners in the public sector — the port authority, (Warren) city and (Warren City) school district — as well as private investors committed to investing in our community.”

West Warren Development LLC was conceived in the hunt for space for GreenBoard IT and hearing about deals that have been discussed by boards the partners are part of, Runnestrand said.

“We know there are people looking for this type of property, but it just didn’t exist,” he said. “So eventually we asked ourselves the question, why don’t we try to build one and see if we can prove it out.”

PORT AUTHORITY’S ROLE

In this case, the port authority was the conduit to move the land from Warren and Warren City Schools to West Warren Development LLC under special powers given to port authorities in Ohio law that allows them to acquire and sell property without going to bid.

In January, the port authority agreed to accept the land with the intent of turning around and selling it to an end user whose name then wasn’t yet made public.

In the deal signed Wednesday, West Warren Development agreed to pay the full appraised value of the land, $195,000. All but about 95 percent of that will be given back to the city and school district, said Anthony Trevena, port authority executive director. All the port authority receives in the transaction is money for expenses related to the acquisition and sale, he said.

THE LAND

About 50 acres belonged to the city. It was the former Westlawn neighborhood that was built in the 1940s to house workers at the former Ravenna Arsenal just west of Newton Falls. By the 1980s and 1990s the area had fallen on hard times, notorious for drugs, crimes and fires.

The area was cleaned up and the homes, mostly if not all multi-family concrete slab units, were demolished in the 1990s.

The 30 or so acres that was owned by Warren was the site of Western Reserve High School, and later middle school after the district combined two high schools in the early 1990s. Alden Elementary School also was at the site.

The middle school was demolished in August 2010 and Alden in June of the same year.

There is very little, if any, environmental remediation needed done at the site, said Warren Mayor Doug Franklin.

“We think development can happen relatively seamlessly, which is a developer’s dream, and for us it just moves the project and progress a lot quicker,” he said.

The site is minutes away from the state Route 82 / 5 bypass and the Ohio Turnpike. Its development changes the story of Warren’s west side, Franklin said.

“I think it changes the psychology, so to speak, and the narrative of wow, there are investment opportunities, there is investment happening,” he said. “So we think this story is going to propel future consideration for other investors.”

rselak@tribtoday.com