The former Eastern Gateway Community College building in downtown Youngstown is headed for demolition, along with the parking deck next to it, so Mahoning County can put a government center on the site.
That is the plan Mahoning Matters reported Wednesday, with the county and the Western Reserve Port Authority partnering on the transformation. Eastern Gateway closed permanently in 2025. The deck beside it has been shut since April 2025, for safety and usability.
When the Work Is Supposed to Start
The start date is not a single agreed calendar entry. The Economic Action Group, as reported by Mahoning Matters, has demolition beginning Nov. 15 with internal deconstruction. The Business Journal has described an expected start in mid-November for the building and parking deck.
WKBN has reported a separate announced plan to begin demolishing the former Eastern Gateway building and the adjoining deck on Nov. 30. Those are announced schedules, not a record of which crew shows up on which morning.
The heavier lift, in the WKBN account, comes later. Most of the building demolition is planned for January through March 2027, with minimal work during next summer's festival season. Downtown is expected to stay open through the project, even as some streets and sidewalks are restricted.
What the County Wants on the Block
The building is coming down to make room for a Mahoning County Government Center meant to pull core county services out of sites scattered around the area. WKBN has reported that the new facility is planned to house Jobs and Family Services, the building and planning departments, and the county commissioners.
Mahoning Matters has construction expected to begin in late 2027 and the center targeted to open in early 2029. WKBN has described the whole job, demolition plus construction, as a two-and-a-half-year project with completion expected in spring 2029, and has also reported the center fully complete by May 2029. Those are expected completion dates, not a confirmed opening day.
Plans described by Mahoning Matters also include a parking deck with 300 spaces for government-center visitors and other downtown patrons. That is a project plan, not a finished design package.
Bonds and a Roughly $60 Million Job
Mahoning Matters has put the government center project at roughly $60 million. Separately, WFMJ reported that county commissioners voted to issue more than $30 million in bonds for the center. The bond vote covers part of the financing, not the full project value by itself.
The practical bet is consolidation: one downtown address for offices that now sit in more than one place, paid for in part by county debt and built on a campus the college no longer uses. How the rest of the roughly $60 million lines up is not spelled out in the reporting on the bond vote.
Streets Around the Site
Mahoning Matters has laid out how demolition is expected to pinch the block. South Champion Street is to be closed to vehicles and pedestrians. South Walnut Street is to stay open to northbound traffic only, with only the east-side sidewalk open.
East Federal Street is to remain open to vehicles, with only the north-side sidewalk open. East Boardman Street is also to remain open to vehicles, while its north sidewalk is to be closed to pedestrians. Anyone cutting through that part of downtown will be reading the sidewalks as carefully as the signals.
Mocha House Gets Out First
The cafe inside the building is not waiting on the wrecking schedule. WKBN reported that Mocha House is moving from 120 E. Boardman Street to the corner of West Federal Street and North Phelps, inside Wick Tower. Mahoning Matters places the new spot at 34 W. Federal St., the former West 34 space.
Owners planned to stop operating at the Boardman Street location the week of Nov. 16 and hoped to be open at the new address by Thanksgiving. Mocha House said it is excited to keep serving Youngstown and grateful for the support. The move is tied to the demolition, not to a voluntary downtown hop.
A Long Stretch After the First Swing
If the January-through-March window holds, the visible teardown of the college building is a winter job, with the county trying to keep the following festival season from sharing a block with heavy demolition. Construction, on the Mahoning Matters timetable, would not start until late 2027.
Residents who use Jobs and Family Services, building and planning, or the commissioners' offices are looking at a multi-year wait before those desks share one downtown building. Between now and a spring or May 2029 completion target, the immediate change is a closed college block, a cafe relocating to West Federal, and a parking deck that has already been dark since April 2025.
