YOUNGSTOWN — The city of Youngstown submitted the winning — and only — offer at a sheriff’s sale 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 bid for the 86-parcel property at Tuesday’s sale was $1,379,580, which is two-thirds the price of the Mahoning County auditor’s value. The city submitted that minimum bid.

“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.

Brown added: “There is excitement about the possibilities of what the site can become and while that is still being determined, one thing is clear — now that the city has control over the site, our goal is to ensure the result is something Youngstown can be proud of.”

The city had envisioned the plant as leading an economic revival of the lower East Side.

Mitchell Joseph, the head of M.J. Joseph Development Corp. — Chill Can’s parent company — and its sister companies, claimed when the project broke ground in November 2016 that it would cost $18.8 million to build.

Joseph had said the facility would be in operation by 2018 producing the world’s only self-chilling beverage can with four buildings and 237 jobs by Aug. 31, 2021.

There are only three unfinished buildings and no employees at the abandoned site.

Joseph walked away from the project four years ago and abandoned his legal fight a year ago.

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 as well as for 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 and any other county departments.

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, which didn’t expect M.J. Joseph to pay, 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.

A sheriff’s sale for the site initially was scheduled Nov. 11, but was canceled because three appraisals of the property could not determine the value.

The appraisers wrote that 26 of the 86 parcels on the site are owned by the city and two are owned by Scott Berger, who used to work for M.J. Joseph.

The sheriff’s department has to wait for confirmation of the sale to be filed in court, which usually takes up to 30 days, before the property is transferred to the city, said Tammy Ginnetti, who handles sheriff’s sales for the department.

The city and MS won default judgments in court last year after M.J. Joseph’s former attorneys withdrew in December 2023 from lawsuits and the company — which exists only on paper — ignored court deadlines and hearings and never hired other lawyers.

That resulted in the default judgments in favor of the city and MS Consultants on money owed by the company and the foreclosure decision.

Mitchell Joseph filed May 10 for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Central Division of California with his wife, Susan Jo Joseph, and Joseph Co. International Inc. A judge dismissed the case July 11.

The foreclosure case was initiated by MS on July 12, 2023, to seize M.J. Joseph’s property after winning a lower court case on a breach-of-contract lawsuit.

The 7th District Court of Appeals on Feb. 20, 2024, dismissed M.J. Joseph’s appeal of a March 20, 2023, decision by Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court who determined the company breached a contract for MS to do design work on the supposed project and owed $322,908.

M.J. Joseph ignored that appeal, leading to its dismissal.

Sweeney on May 8 also closed Youngstown’s case against M.J. Joseph after awarding the city $2.23 million in sanctions and damages.

Of that amount, $1.5 million is water and wastewater grants given to the company by the city and the rest is the $733,481 sanction related to city expenses to acquire 15 properties for the project, including relocation expenses, and demolition and asbestos abatement costs.

Even though the city was awarded sanctions, it did not pursue them because of M.J. Joseph’s inability to pay.

Youngstown filed a $2.8 million lawsuit June 17, 2021, contending M.J. Joseph failed to live up to its promises to develop the site.

In a March 29, 2021, certified letter, the city informed Joseph he had 60 days to construct a number of buildings and hire about 150 workers or it would file a lawsuit.

There’s also a $2.58 million default judgment from Richard A. Briskey, a Sunbury businessman, against Mitchell Joseph, M.J. Joseph and three other affiliated businesses in a breach-of-contract lawsuit. Durkin ruled Briskey’s interests were behind the city and MS.