Historic buildings, new investment spur surge
Crain’s Cleveland Business
By DAN SHINGLER
4:30 am, October 26, 2009
To a visitor who's never seen Akron before, the downtown area might look like an up-and-coming city that's making the most of its art-deco architecture and the easy access to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and other outdoor amenities.
But to a visitor who merely hasn't seen Akron in 20 years or so, it might look more like a miracle in the making. Because the Akron of today and the town that was reeling from having the rubber rug pulled out from under it in the 1970s and '80s are hardly recognizable as the same city.
“If you haven't been to Akron in the last 10 years, you won't even recognize it. And if you haven't seen it in five years, you'll be amazed,” said Joel Testa, a developer heavily involved with downtown.
Mr. Testa's name, along with the names of other developers who have been crucial to the city's redevelopment, came up frequently on a recent golf-cart tour of the city's downtown given by Downtown Akron Partnership president Kimberlee McKee.
Developer Tony Troppe, an Akron native who is now 45, said he remembers the city's years of decline — after it lost virtually all of its tire-production jobs in the 1970s and '80s.
“I spent a lot of time riding my bike around Main Street, watching buildings fall into disrepair,” he said.
For the history books
Mr. Troppe and others are quick to point out that Akron is rich in architecture. Its downtown buildings, many built in the early days of the 20th century, have art deco lines and features, such as steel eagles, relief sculptures and other labor-intensive details not found on modern buildings.
That's why most of the developments that Ms. McKee shows visitors aren't new buildings — they are rehabilitated historic structures. Mr. Troppe, for example, has renovated nine major buildings downtown, including the 50,000-square-foot United Building at One South Main Street, which he said was vacant and empty for 30 years.
Those buildings have been quick to fill up with law firms, corporate headquarters, small businesses and residences, Mr. Troppe said.
“If people have a choice, they'll be in a historic building with state-of-the-art mechanicals every time,” Mr. Troppe said.
History just might be what is saving Akron. The city began designating sections of downtown as “historic districts” in 2001, beginning with one section that contained 16 buildings and branching out from there as development proceeded.
It's also capitalized on its unique amenities, Ms. McKee said.
She is quick to point out the downtown location of Canal Park, home to the minor-league Akron Aeros baseball team, as well as the nearby Lock 3 city park, which hosts festivals, concerts and other public events throughout the year. She also touts the entrance to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which can be easily accessed by a growing population of downtown residents.
Full menu of amenities
Such amenities have attracted new construction to complement the ongoing rehabilitation of downtown buildings and also have played a major role in attracting new residents to downtown.
“Chrissie Hynde lives there,” Ms. McKee says, her golf cart rolling past Northside Lofts, where the leader of the band The Pretenders has not only a part-time residence, but a vegetarian restaurant called the VegiTerranean. Getting Ms. Hynde to live and invest in Akron was a coup for the city — the singer/songwriter famously penned “My City is Gone” as a critical lament to Akron's demise and often was an Akron detractor in the 1980s.
Today, she and others apparently think Akron is cool again.
The Northside Lofts are at the corner of Furnace and Howard streets, which once was known as the city's central prostitution district.
Residents pay between $225,000 and $1 million for the units, and 75% of the 43 units have sold, said Mr. Testa, who developed them. The economic downturn has slowed sales, but not stopped them, and Mr. Testa said he is one of the few urban residential developers in the nation who has not had to lower his prices to sell in the recession.
For sure, the canal, the adjacent Towpath bike and running trail and the national park across the street spurred his investment and help attract buyers, Mr. Testa said.
“I wanted to create a little bit of New York in Akron, and the part I like most about New York is Central Park,” he said. “When I saw this site, I said, "This is it!'”
