By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 08:10 p.m. EST, Nov 20, 2009
Akron is getting $1.9 million in state funds to help turn an empty 12-story downtown office building into loft apartments.
The Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant for Akron's historic Landmark Building was announced Friday by the Ohio Department of Development and Gov. Ted Strickland.
Akron will use the money to remove asbestos from the building at 156 S. Main St.
The building, constructed in 1923, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Plans call for upscale lofts on the upper floors and a restaurant on the ground level. The restoration has a $10 million price tag.
The project is expected to add $135,000 a year in new property taxes and $30,000 in income taxes. The redevelopment of the building is expected to add 50 jobs.
The lower level of the building along Garden Alley and next to the Ohio & Erie Canal also can be developed.
Main Street Partners LLC is interested in rehabilitating the Landmark and six other buildings at South Main and Bowery streets, said David Lieberth, Akron's deputy mayor.
Efforts to contact attorney and company spokesman Ralph Palmisano for comment were unsuccessful.
The overall project, expected to cost the company more than $20 million, would create a mixed-use center with stores, restaurants/entertainment, office space and apartments near Lock 3 Park and the Akron Civic Theatre.
Akron also is investing $5 million in the redevelopment project.
Lieberth said the asbestos has already been removed from the other six buildings. That cost Akron about $800,000.
Akron had approved the development plans in early 2008. The city sold the six other buildings to Main Street Partners for $1 each. The city had purchased the buildings for $3.55 million in the late 1990s.
Akron sold the Landmark Building for $1.3 million. The city had purchased the office building for $2.9 million.
The state released $28 million in Clean Ohio Revitalization Funds for 16 environmental cleanup projects around the state.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
