NEOBuckeye

Case in point: The area Panera Bread franchise owner that was slated to build one in Ellet at the Acme Plaza on Wedgewood Drive has cancelled those plans. City Council approved it a year ago. No reason was stated for the cancellation, but it's easy to see why they decided not to move forward with it. The Akron area is economically stagnant. Even Ellet, a one-time suburb that has long been one of the city proper's better neighborhoods, seems like its just drifting along nowadays, with no significant economic development and investment having taken place there in a decade or longer, other than the new school buildings. http://www.ohio.com/business/panera-scraps-plan-to-build-new-style-restaurant-in-ellet-area-of-akron-1.472729

^As someone who lived most of my life (29 years) in Akron, I agree on HS and would also extend that concern to the city as a whole. It is changing, and none for the better, unfortunately. The string of bars that have opened over the past few years on Main Street, and the even longer string of student housing complexes in the area for UA doesn't even begin to address the economic and social decay that has permeated the rest of the city and its inner ring suburbs. While we are talking about Highland Square, I could just as easily write a similar post about the decline of North Hill, Goodyear Heights, Ellet, Chapel Hill, Tallmadge, Kenmore, Barberton, Firestone Park, etc. Highland Square itself should honestly be thriving and gentrifying like Ohio City and Gordon Square in Cleveland, Over-The-Rhine in Cincinnati, and South Side in Pittsburgh. Instead, it's stagnant if not headed in reverse. A new grocery store might stem the tide somewhat, but it honestly needs to be coupled with a major economic development initiative to put the community back on the map as a place to be. It's barely so now, and that's a stretch. Honestly, other than new school buildings, how much of an economic development focus has the city of Akron placed on its communities within the past 15 years? Do they even still know how to do this? I'm only partially being facetious here. What might really help Akron at this point is a new mayor. Plusquellic has more than done his time and has clearly run his well dry of relevant ideas. The city would really benefit from a new mayor, probably younger with a fresh perspective, ideally one grounded in or otherwise heavily influenced by New Urbanism and a strong community-oriented focus.

I'm not impressed. This looks marginally better than the Cascades in Brimfield. Replace the apartment complexes there with the townhomes planned for Stow, and you have just about the same thing, complete with token green space and the obligatory asphalt sea of parking spaces. I still say Stow is in competition with Green to win the title of "Most Bland Akron Suburb" possible. Give me Cuyahoga Falls, Barberton, Medina, Wadsworth, Kent or Ravenna any day in their places.

I like what was said above about soliciting P&G, Kroger and Macy's for their involvement and support with building and promoting the streetcar. This from the get-go would have marginalized COAST and much of the anti-rail crowd since fewer people are willing to put up a fight against the interests of the key companies in town. As it is, Cranley is dealing a major blow to their recruitment efforts. Young, top-notch would be employees of Cincy's Fortune 500 companies are today observing a bunch of folks celebrating the rollback of the streetcar like its some sort of accomplishment, and it reaffirms for them all the negative and backwards images they may have previously heard and seen of Cincinnati as a city and region. While Cranley and COAST revel in utter bufoonery and ignorance, Cincinnati just lost a major PR asset that could have given it a major leg up on its future and remaking itself for the 21st century. Sad.

I think you are onto something about "looking up" based upon size, because I see Cleveland and Pittsburgh as the "big cities" in the region. Akron and Canton have always seemed more comparable to each other to me, despite the difference of about 100k people between their proper municipal definitions. At the same time, Canton has some big townships that would add substantially to its population if they were incorporated as part of the city. As for the old Canton-Akron Indians, I do think it is unfortunate that Akron poached them from Canton, despite the benefits that they have provided at Canal Park and in Downtown Akron. Still, I'd really rather see our cities work together to help and boost each other economically than to compete against each other and rely on one-upmanship to benefit at the other's expense, even if things as they are have probably been generally more favorable for Akron. Both cities are really too small to stand alone these days. Maybe a partnership similar to what Raleigh and Durham have in NC would work? It's how the Research Triangle was born, and look at how both of those sister cities have benefitted from that collaborative effort. At any rate, I would love to see something similar to Canal Park in Downtown Canton. I do love what is happening with the arts there though. First Fridays are as lively and fun as anything happening on any given weekend night in Downtown Akron, if not more so. Akron surprisingly does not have anything really comparable as an arts district. I mean there is Highland Square and Northside, but both are tiny and only have a few small galleries. Canton by comparison has so many layers of art and galleries throughout the formal arts district and beyond its fringes that it's really tough to see and appreciate it all in one evening. I would definitely say that Canton holds a huge edge on Akron in this regard. Keep defending Canton, my friend. There is a lot of hope and potential still evident there, and I think the arts as well as the new bike lanes downtown will really help to pave the way towards the future. I'm doing my part to promote and defend it too.

Technically no. I have lived in Akron for most of my life. But since the two cities are so close, and because I have experienced so much informal overlap between them in my social and professional lives, I really feel just as much at home in Canton as I do in Akron. So maybe that makes me an "honorary" Cantonian? :-) You are certainly right about posters from Canton being rare, though. I have been hoping to maybe see some members of the downtown arts or professional communities post here eventually. I guess it also would help if there were a more active urbanist blog scene representing the area, which doesn't yet seem to be the case.

Ugh. I'd love to see a stronger post-secondary/higher ed presence in Downtown Canton, but Shale Oil speculation training sure isn't the way to get there.

This has been a long time in the making for Highland Square and will be great for the community. I still won't fully believe it until I see it though.

jobs And more streetcar lines. In Cincy, Detroit, and cities elsewhere in the region hopefully.

Good pictures! Always nice to see some interest in Toledo, including UT or the city itself. Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but there unfortunately doesn't seem to be much of a blog scene happening there right now. Maybe this thread will inspire someone to jump start it. :-)

^I recently saw the new bike lanes too on Walnut Ave and noticed that the lane running against traffic even has its own traffic light. Never seen anything quite like it. I agree, it's probably a mistake given that people around NE Ohio aren't exactly used to this sort of arrangement, but I guess we have to start somewhere, right? Still, I think they might have been better off converting this street to two-way traffic. For that matter, I'm not sure that Downtown Canton even gets busy enough during rush hour now to warrant any one-way streets. They should convert them all over to two-way. It would do a lot to nurture a stronger sense of downtown being a safe and walkable place as well as encourage more investment and re-development.

Seems like UPA has had some significant setbacks recently, including losing its director without a replacement taking the reigns, and now the loss of substantial funding for development. With Proenza retiring next year, it will be interesting to see how the next president of UA influences UPA's direction. Of course, UA itself has its own problems to address in terms of graduation and student success rates. So a number of very big challenges are on the table for the institution and its extensions that collectively constitute Akron's last best hope for survival and prosperity. Hope the next president is up to the challenge. His or her presidency will be pivotal for UA, the city, and the region itself.

Very strange. It actually runs counter to the direction I thought the city was going to take with its main streets, including Exchange and Market.

Cleveland's east side has its challenged and challenging communities to be sure, but I wouldn't paint it with a broad stroke as being in total the worst place you could possibly be in NE Ohio. As others have pointed out, University Circle itself, along with Little Italy, is growing and improving with each passing day. Cleveland Heights nearby is also quite safe. Lakewood on the west side is often likened to Cleveland Heights and has a similar youthful and progressive vibe, with no shortage of bars, local restaurants and entertainment. But of course, there is the commute. Even Downtown Cleveland itself has come along quite a ways over the past decade, and within the past five years in particular. As others have said, if you lived in Chicago, finding your way around Cleveland should be no problem. Bring your street smarts with you.

^Very interesting and insightful. I'm sure UA would like to keep all of its athletic facilities together in one quadrant of campus, particularly with the baseball, football, and soccer stadiums close by. Nevertheless, there is something to also be said for having a multi-purpose general arena downtown, particularly if it regularly hosts events other than college and high school basketball games, fostering year-round traffic and economic support for Downtown Akron entertainment, living and nightlife in the process. It does also seem that the economic impact would be far more significant along South Main and South High rather than on East Exchange and Rt. 8. Plus it's not like a downtown arena wouldn't still be within the footprint and influence of UA's main campus, both of which extend well into the heart of downtown via Polsky's and recently-constructed student-centered housing. Also, I presume the mens' and women's teams would continue to practice in the sports quadrant within the proposed renovated JAR facilities, but host their actual games within the downtown arena. Maybe the new arena could even be equipped for ice hockey? Now wouldn't that be something? An Akron Zips Ice Hockey team? :-) I really am leaning toward this as the option I would choose at this point, if I really had any say. But who knows when we'll see action. Too bad we can't just "house move" the Wolstein Center down from Cleveland since CSU seems to be looking to unload it somehow.

Looks good to me, and it would definitely be better than seeking the current stretch of parking lots along S. Main. Replacing that parking for events at the new arena and for Downtown business and nightlife in general might be an issue, however. I wonder if they could add any additional floors to the Polsky deck? The other question concerns what UA is going to do about the JAR. They have been looking at E. Exchange west of Rt. 8 for its replacement, on land adjacent to InfoCision Stadium. Akron doesn't need two new arenas, and since the Zips would be the most probable anchor, UA is likely to have the final word on where this ultimately ends up.

You may have heard more about Highland Square as an artsy community than was justified. When I moved here in 2009, I never really heard it pitched as an "artsy" community. Urban, yes. Indie, even. Artsy, not so much. The ArtWalk in Akron is Downtown, and while it's a valiant effort, it's not Columbus' Gallery Hop or even Canton's First Friday. I'm OK with that. I've always been a little nervous about relying on art galleries as a cornerstone of urban neighborhood redevelopment, even though I can see how it worked with the Short North in Columbus. I never really saw it as such, but I often heard HS billed elsewhere from others as Akron's arts community. I agree though, it's definitely more urban indie than artsy, although I do know personally a few artists that live there. I agree with you both, and I've been aware of this as a plan since Mayor Plusquellic first unveiled the Biomedical Corridor to the public mid-decade. I know it takes years for something like the RTP in Raleigh-Durham to really get off the ground. I guess I'm just pining for more action, but I do get that it is a long, drawn-out process that hopefully will eventually produce a major sustained economic payoff for the city and region. It's coming, but it will be a slow process: http://www.artspace.org/ Wonder where they will locate it? Hopefully it will become an anchor for an arts cluster of sorts. I agree with Gramarye that it shouldn't necessarily be the primary thing powering a neighborhood rebirth, but it can certainly assist as a cultural component of a general redevelopment strategy. I'd love to see someone apply something like this to the old Middlebury neighborhood on the eastern edge of UA Park.

I can't seem to find the exact details on the historical society's site, but I always understood it to be the result of poor upkeep and costs in later years that led to extensive structural damage and ultimately condemnation by the City of Barberton in 1965. There wasn't much interest or money then around for fixing up and restoring the old. People were more interested in progress as marked throughout the 60s and 70s by wiping out whole structures and swaths of communities to build new and supposedly "better" in their place... except that Barberton didn't actually get around to accomplishing much of that in the wake of the mansion until far more recently, and then not anywhere near "replacement value" to what was lost. The Mansion is definitely a profound and irreparable cultural and historical loss for Barberton as well as for Greater Akron. For comparison and imagery, the equivalent in Akron proper would have been the demolition of Stan Hywet during the same period. How much has the city benefited from its presence and local economic contributions through tourism and events held there over the ensuing decades? How many weddings, plays and other special events might the Barber Mansion have hosted in Barberton over the past 40+ years?

The city still has some very good things going for it economically and institutionally between UA and Summa, Akron General and Children's hospitals. UA's founding and evolution may very well be the single most fortuitous development in the city's history, even surpassing and outliving the rubber industry. The question however, is how long and far can the "Eds and Meds" model carry a city forward without substantial additional economic support from other sectors? The prospect of a student loan "debt bubble" and ever-climbing health costs do cast some doubt over the strength of even these cornerstones.

I'm not being a downer so much as I'm just being critical here. I'm actually glad that you feel that Highland Square and Akron in general are great places to be. Maybe I'm just growing impatient with the pace of change, but it seems to me that things could be better still than what they are. I fully acknowledge that Akron could be much, much worse off than what it is. But I also think it could be better as well. You're right about all of that-- I really was just trying to cheer you up though, and I find myself wanting to promote the place more and more. I moved to Akron with some trepidation, thinking it too small or not urban enough, etc. But I've come to find that it's an easy place to live, and that's worth a ton. And other than large skyscrapers, it doesn't lack much in terms of urbanity. Downtown was a pleasant surprise and so was the sheer volume of upscale residential. The old commercial streets leave much to be desired, but that's a statewide problem, and West Market is among the state's best. Not perfect but it's viable from downtown to the city line and beyond. That's immensely powerful-- it says here we have a rust belt city that took all the blows but never fell. Oh, believe me, you did give me some cheer. :-) It is good to see that at least a few more people have found Akron a worthwhile place to be. As I said, I am just being critical of some of the things I see and don't see that I think if they were to be addressed, could improve the city's fortunes and outlook substantially. At the same time, and as you suggested, Akron isn't Cleveland and really doesn't need to be. Even at it's peak population, Akron was only a city of 295,000 to Cleveland's 915,000. Akron clearly never aspired to be the #1 city in NE Ohio and maintains its own path and potential largely independent of what Cleveland plans or does. My only real wish is to see the city attain greater momentum forward. :-)

I read that too and thought about how it is unfortunate that Akron still lacks a true residential go-to "haven community" for artists AND their artwork, where they can go to find and lease spaces for their galleries and hold shows and open houses for the public, not unlike artists in Tremont, Little Italy, or the Art Quarter in Cleveland, or even in the Downtown Arts District in Canton. It's telling that the Bidwells really wanted to locate in Akron at first, but couldn't find a gallery space in a community that would have readily embraced and supported them here. I also thought about how despite its reputation as an artsy community, Highland Square is surprisingly void of galleries and artists' workshops. Why is that? And was it ever on the Bidwells' radar as a place for their gallery? I would love to see this situation change and for future artists to be able to cluster their galleries and workspaces in the same community. If this turns out to be Highland Square, perhaps someday they could even have their own monthly art walk.

The demolition of the O. C. Barber mansion was quite possibly the most ill-advised, shortsighted and downright boneheaded act in Barberton's history. It was by every account more grand than Stan Hywet Hall, and almost certainly would have helped Barberton to remake itself as a tourist destination at the very least throughout the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st. The extent of the cultural and economic void it left in is wake and the impact of this on the course of the city of Barberton's development is incalculable. On the bright side, at least the city's reputation for its unique flavor of chicken continues to endure. :-)

I'm not being a downer so much as I'm just being critical here. I'm actually glad that you feel that Highland Square and Akron in general are great places to be. Maybe I'm just growing impatient with the pace of change, but it seems to me that things could be better still than what they are. I fully acknowledge that Akron could be much, much worse off than what it is. But I also think it could be better as well.

That may very well be the case, but where is exactly is all of the philanthropy going to? I pose this as a genuine question because I personally don't see very much of it. I do acknowledge what UA is doing through UPA, and I'm glad to see the revitalization efforts there taking place, slow as they may be. What I am wondering about is what is taking place in other parts of the city? Where are the community economic development organizations for Goodyear Heights, Firestone Park, Ellet, Kenmore, and North Hill? Where are there other efforts underway to create the vibrant, attractive and safe communities where people will want to live? That's what I'm asking.

Sorry, I meant community foundations. It seems like Cleveland has them for many of its neighborhoods. I don't see anything remotely matching that kind of community re-invstment currently in place in Akron. Don't get me wrong though, the city certianly would benefit from them. As for rail, it may be unlikely, but visionary and determined leadership in the region could make it a reality. Unfortunately, I think we will need to see more of a turnover in generations holding the reigns of leadership in govt. and business in NE Ohio first. Gen Xers and the Millennials are nowhere near as married to their cars as the Boomers are, even in this region.