Trumbull County partners break ground on future site of 4 new market-rate homes
The mayor of Warren and city officials joined the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership at the future site of four new homes that’ll be looking for owners by early spring of 2026.
In July, Trumbull County officials broke ground at the corner of Moncrest Drive and Drexel Ave. in Warren which used to be Emerson Elementary School.
Lisa Ramsey is the deputy director of the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, which she’s been a part of for 13 years.
Ramsey said this is one of the first multi-home owner-occupied development projects in Warren that’s been started in the last 10 years.
“It’s been exciting to watch the transition from heavy demolition into stabilization and now into making a new addition to the neighborhood,” she said. “There have not been many homes constructed within the city boundaries in the last decade or so, and certainly not four in a row. We’re very excited to see this empty space transition into something new.”
Ramsey said the TNP has been working on revitalizing the area for the last decade, starting with demolishing non-salvageable properties.
Once the bulk of demolitions in the city were completed, TNP transitioned into renovating current properties and new construction projects.
“Then we recognized some opportunities for new construction,” Ramsey said. “It’s called infill development.”
Through the Welcome Home Ohio program with the Ohio Department of Development, Ramsey said TNP was able to purchase the new construction property at Emerson Elementary.
“Throughout the city, the Warren City School District had throughout the city scattered vacant lots where there used to be schools before they started consolidating. Emerson was one of those sites,” she said. “It’s a very stable neighborhood. The community is great around it. They were very supportive of the project, and it looked also like the housing values could support what we were aiming to do up there.”
Ramsey said they’re hoping to have all four units constructed and ready for sale by early spring of next year.
TNP is working with Joe Koch Construction of Austintown on the development.
“They have extensive experience in infill housing. We’ve seen what they’ve done in Youngstown. It’s been very solid, so we really are excited to partner with the builder who understands the mission of what we’re doing,” Ramsey said.
Todd Johnson is the First Ward Councilman for the city of Warren.
He said the groundbreaking “represents a turning point for our community, from tearing down to building up.”
“This is one of my proudest moments as a councilman, sharing in the groundbreaking for four new single-family market-rate homes on the site of the old Emerson School where I spent my first few years as a student,” Johnson wrote. “These are exciting times for our city and this type of development will attract more middle-class families and those coming to the area for employment and opportunity.
Ramsey said TNP does just about anything that is “geared towards improving the general quality of life for people who live in the community.”
“That can range from new construction, providing home repairs for occupied properties and anything related to housing to increase stability in the neighborhood,” she said. “We’ve done pocket parks, community gardens and we provide a lot of support to the community garden network in the city. We also do brownfield cleanup and commercial demolition, planning and playground improvements.”
Learn more about the TNP and the Trumbull County Land Bank online.
