“You’re going to see some of these ideas, maybe it’s not the exact form that the students suggested, but it most likely is going to be that program," said Marchionda. "And it shows our community and our finance officials and legal officials what’s possible and helps us start to take that vision and put a budget together and weave it into the applications that we’re going to go after for any gap financing.”

The city chose to partner with Kent State due to its architecture experts, as well as the City of Kent’s success with its redevelopment. Youngstown could begin some of the projects as soon as 2018.