A string of vacant Akron buildings is at the heart of the city’s vision to make the downtown a place to live, work and play.
Redevelopment of the Main Street property, including the historic Landmark Building, north of the Lock 3 Park has languished for years.
Now the city has gone to court with hopes of spurring redevelopment of the properties, some dating to the early 1900s.
The city late last month filed a complaint in Summit County Common Pleas Court to get back the deeds of two key parcels it once owned.
The city action was filed against Main Street Partners and BTE Enterprises. Both businesses are led by Jack Crews and have had title to the buildings since 2008 as part of a larger redevelopment plan for the Lock 4 area.
Main Street planned a mixed-use development, converting the properties into housing, shops and restaurants.
Crews and his attorney could not be reached for comment.
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, who took office in January, said in a statement that a priority for his administration is to create a “vibrant sustainable neighborhood” downtown.
“We need movement on key areas of redevelopment downtown, and this [area around the Lock 4 Park] tops the list,” he said.
The idea is to find a new development company willing to bring housing and other uses to the buildings.
Suzie Graham, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Downtown Akron Partnership, said the string of buildings — between the Akron Civic Theatre and Bowery Street — “have come up time and time again as being catalysts” for creation of a downtown neighborhood.
At the same time, Graham said, the properties “are not just underutilized ... [they are] truly falling apart,” creating “a big gap” in revitalization efforts.
The nonprofit group seeks to help revitalize and promote the city’s core and has been involved with numerous meetings focusing on creating a plan for downtown.
“There’s just so little we can do with the properties” as they are now, she said.
Plans fall through
Main Street Partners’ ownership of the two properties — 164 and 168 S. Main — goes back to 2008, when it struck a development agreement with the city.
Main Street paid $1 for six properties: the two properties in dispute and three others that are north of the Civic, as well as the former Rite Aid building just south of the theater.
As part of the deal, Main Street agreed to buy the biggest parcel in the group — the historic 12-story Landmark building (the former Akron Savings & Loan) — for nearly $1.3 million. Main Street also agreed to spend at least $9.75 million on improvements to all the properties, while preserving their historic nature.
Amid the recession, deadlines set under the 2008 agreement came and went. While the project was poised to get $2.4 million in an Ohio Historic Tax Preservation Tax Credit, approved in 2011, it was apparently unable to secure enough private financing. Such tax credits are not issued until construction is complete.
Earlier this year, Main Street, owing $150,000 in property taxes and fines, agreed to narrow the project’s scope. The new plan was to redevelop the two buildings closest to the Landmark — the properties the city now wants back — as well as the Landmark, said James Hardy, Horrigan’s chief of staff. The city continues to own the Landmark.
Main Street Partners returned ownership of the other properties to the city in the spring.
These include the land that housed the former Stage Left building. The building was demolished this spring to make room in part for the Akron combined sewer overflow project and to open up access to the Lock 3 and Lock 4 entertainment and recreational areas.
The building was called Stage Left because it had been home to the Stage Left boutique operated by Akron Civic volunteers. The boutique closed in 2013, and a satellite operation remains in business inside the theater.
The city then determined that Main Street Partners did not have the “financial resources” to go forward with the project, according to a July letter from the city to Main Street Partners.
The city said in an Aug. 16 letter to Main Street that it was terminating the original 2008 agreement.
The city has attempted to get Main Street Partners to voluntarily transfer back to the city ownership of the two buildings, 164 and 168 S. Main, Hardy said.
Also named in the complaint is Terremark Partners LLC of Georgia, headed by Craig Kaser.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com.