Akron wants to buy block for parking, sell another for complex
By Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Nov 20, 2007
Akron city planners want to sell a downtown parking lot to a developer for $129,000 and then spend $1.4 million to purchase a property across the street and build another parking lot.
The City Council on Monday night delayed voting on the proposal, which is a key component to a planned apartment and retail complex centered in the city's entertainment district.
The city wants to buy the Akron Area Board of Realtors building and its 2-acre lot at South High and Cedar streets for $1.405 million.
The property has been on the market for about a year and is being listed by Mogen Real Estate Co. at a $1.495 million asking price.
For tax purposes, the building and lot is appraised by Summit County at about $745,000.
The city plans to either raze the two-story office building or keep it standing and add parking around it, said Robert Bowman, Akron's deputy mayor of economic development.
Bowman said the city's $1.405 million offer is at the property's appraised market value.
''We need to acquire that property because it is the infrastructure that will support this housing development,'' he said. ''That's what it's appraised at. The actual asking price was even more than that.''
The city is looking to bring a 250-vehicle surface parking lot to the site, officials told the council on Monday.
The new parking lot is expected to be used by renters at a 422-bed apartment complex planned for the block around East Exchange, South Main, Cedar and South High streets.
The apartments will be marketed to University of Akron students. Retail shops are planned for the lower floors of the complex.
Developer Martin Mehall last month announced plans on the blockwide project during a joint news conference with Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic. Mehall has committed at least $25 million to the project, city officials said.
Mehall said he hopes the complex would be open by the summer of 2009.
The development plan calls for Mehall's company to acquire the downtown block from private owners and the city.
He has already struck a deal with the owners of a 1-acre strip along South Main Street where Brubaker's Pub and the former Jillian's nightclub currently sit. Terms of the purchase have yet to be disclosed.
Mehall has now struck a deal with the city for the other half of the block. Mehall's company is set to pay the city $129,000 for the eastern half of the downtown lot owned by the city.
The property being sold by the city is along South High Street and has a 116-car surface parking lot on the south side and the historic Richard Howe house to the north at East Exchange Street.
The city purchased the Howe House in 1998 for $289,500. City officials could not immediately say how much the city paid for the lot behind the house.
''This is the price of development in urban areas,'' Bowman said of the deal.
The city has already announced a plan to move the Howe house a block west along East Exchange Street to a spot closer to the Ohio & Erie Canal.
It is unclear how much the city would spend to move the house, which was built in the early 1800s. A local group has raised $1.5 million to renovate the house and turn it into a canal visitor's center and office.
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
