The New York man who purchased the former YWCA of Pottsville building in late 2011 has put a "for sale" sign on the historic structure.
On Sept. 9, 2011, Latif Sean Ougzin, Jackson Heights, N.Y., bought the building from the Schuylkill YMCA for $145,000, according to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator.
The building at 325 S. Centre St. is for sale for $219,900, according to schuylkillrealestate.com, the website for Ramus Realty Group, Pottsville. The agent in charge is Cherie Gottshall, according to the "for sale" sign on the building.
Ougzin could not be reached for comment.
Mayor John D.W. Reiley noticed the "for sale" sign last Tuesday. Since the impressive two-story building with an off-street parking lot is a local landmark, he said he hopes potential buyers will work to preserve it.
"It's been there as long as I can remember, and I'm not the youngest guy in town. It's part of historic Downtown Pottsville, and it's in a commercial area, a great location, near AAA, the Partridge House and Union Station," Reiley said Thursday.
Erected in 1893, the building was previously known as the Sheafer Building and had served as the offices of the executors of the estate of Peter W. Sheafer, a mining engineer and geologist, according to "Pottsville in the Twentieth Century," a 2003 book in the Images of America series by Leo L. Ward and Mark T. Major.
The building's features include a gothic stone fountain. Spring water runs off of the hillside and flows by gravity through it and out a spout that protrudes from the mouth of a stone gargoyle. Standing nine feet high, it was restored by the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority in memory of local educator Howard S. Fernsler, according to a plaque at the base of the fountain.
The YWCA of Pottsville, established in 1926, donated its headquarters to the Schuylkill YMCA on Jan. 7, 2011, before it dissolved in June 2011. But the Schuylkill YMCA is unable to afford the estimated "$10,000 to $15,000" a year to heat and power the building, Wayne R. Stump, Schuylkill YMCA chief executive officer, said previously.
Stump had no comment about the matter when contacted Wednesday.
