audidave

this sounds more like 4 people playing monopoly with downtown cleveland than bridge.. :-o

I think a pretty spectacular building going up right now is the extension on the Akron Art museum. Here's the link with them providing updated construction photos.. http://www.akronartmuseum.org/newbuilding/index2.html and within view of that is another project a new residential high-rise going up with a nifty website: http://www.northsidelofts.com/index2.html

A driving landmark tour of Akron from South to North: Portage Lakes, Firestone CC, Goodyear airdock, Derby Downs, Stricklands Custard ice cream, Goodyear HQ, Y-bridge, architecture in downtown Akron (ie new Library, Quaker Oats hilton, Inventure Ctr, Polymer building, still under construction Art Museum, Civic Theater), Tangiers, Highland Square, Stan Hywet mansion, Swensons burgers, West Point Market, Mustardseed Market, fording Sand Run and end up in the Merriman Valley. From here everything is 5 or so minutes away for these seasonal possibilities if its Summer, go to Blossom Music Center, Spring or Fall go hike at Virginia Kendall Ledges or Cascade/Gorge Ledges, Winter go to Boston Mills or Brandywine to ski or snowboard. Any season: hop on the Cuyahoga Valley RR either in Akron or Peninsula.

I like Hillz & Dalez. You've got some nice views there next to Mr. Patterson. Plus its an easy trail to access that you can trail run, then reward yourself afterwards by going to Graeters in Oakwood.

I worked on the superblock of the Arcade and was always curious about what it looked like inside. I think its such a huge complex and there's so many antiquated buildings that are attached to it that its a real head scratcher in what to do with it. For people in Northeast Ohio to understand its basically like a small tower city. I imagine its more like if the Arcade of Cleveland was in the center of Tower City and all the buildings surrounding it were 70-80+yrs old. There's one new big office building sort of attached to it but thats pretty much it for investment on that block in the past 20-30 years. I just remember during storms watching water pour into the various open windows of the complex because of broken gutters pointed straight into windows. That can't be good for that old of a structure having water pouring in from the 3rd floor. I'm definitely not an engineer, but it wouldn't surprise me to see structural failure in some of those buildings that are pushing 100yrs old. My guess is that because of lack of any investment this will go on for another 3-5 years with no ideas of what to do with it and then it will be prudent to just rip it all down and start over. Its probably a bit of a drag on the city center especially since thats why the bus transfer station was set up there next to the arcade. I'm amazed that someone hasn't been bold enough just to reopen it since there's so many people that work on 3rd and main and other buildings right there. Plenty enough day-time foot traffic and available workers. Sad.

Its getting pretty retarded deciding what a suburb of Cleveland is. I'd say keep it in Cuyahoga County. Much further than 5-10 miles outside of Cuyahoga Cty is an exurb or another city's suburb not Cleveland's. I'd think one can also figure out by which paper people read in those burbs. If they have predominately PD newspaper box on their strip, then its probably a suburb.

Well, wait for warmer days in Dayton for the wow factor at El Meson. As far as pricing, I pretty much ate there at lunch times. I drank there and had tapas if I was there at a dinner hour. Good times...

I'm glad NOLady finally got to El Meson. I'm just curious why she only gave it 4 stars out of 5. I've found the ambiance, service, food, and drinks all top notch. Try their mojitos or other drinks. Its a great place to explore their various international dishes. I happily give El Meson 5 stars for exceeding my expectations.

I would say all 4 are pretty much within the outskirts of downtown Akron. St. Thomas probably could be considered to be the most outside of downtown but then thats the best vantage point of downtown Akron considering thats where the main picture of downtown Akron on this website is shot from. I guess that makes Akron a pretty efficient city compared to all the other cities since each of these hospitals is within about 8 blocks of downtown.

They haven't been listing anymore the "indoor ski resort" in any of their blurbs about the project. I wonder if thats a dead idea or maybe too expensive once they take the whole project en masse. A new marina won't be cheap. Also thats off the Quarries property. Perhaps they can dome an existing nearby ski resort.

Nobody seems to have placed a negative view on here of the project so I thought I may as well. I'm not a soccer fan by any means, I'll preface. Still the idea that land next to a highway in a township thats currently full of trees and practically encroaching on the Cuyahoga Valley National Park would have a stadium on it seems insanely annoying. I like urban spaces and I like rural spaces. I don't like seeing the two mixed especially when there's no obvious need to. The Browns stadium is sitting dormant 98% of the year and it was built for MLS in mind supposedly. Route 8 is going to be experiencing a ton of construction in the next 3-4 years as it goes to a limited access highway. To add a huge project like that right next to it with already very high levels of traffic going through that area would be disabling. I for one hope this project never sees the light of day. Beyond that particular site selection, I really don't see a need for a soccer stadium in Summit County. There's currently a ton of things to see and do in Summit Co. and there's already low participation. The UofA basketball team is playing really well and they can still barely draw 3000 people a game. It could be because people are so focussed on the Cavs. The Akron pro softball team and Akron Aeros don't really draw good crowds either without insane amounts of publicity. Keep MLS in Cuyahoga County.

Perhaps someone can get Fred Nance involved in this injustice from a state agency. Its a pretty obvious case of neglect on the part of ODOT. Shown the facts side by side of a northerly signature bridge vs a southernly aligned signature bridge, the benefits are obvious and great. The other statement ODOT made was that if a southernly aligned bridge were considered there would be major traffic disruptions while it was being built. They should be made to come forward with their research they did or didn't do to prove their point. ODOT has stalled and dragged its feet the entire time.

There will be a bypass of Macedonia in the next 5 years. There is a huge ODOT project to make rt 8 north of Hudson a limited access highway and allow direct flow onto 271 as well. ODOT did a very good job with this project in planning and design using feeder roads. They listened to what the county and residents were wishing for. Here's a link from the Beacon: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/13162574.htm It will be great to legally go 65 through Boston Heights. Probably save Summit Co. residents 15-30+ minutes a day driving to Cuyahoga Co.

Thanks KJP. I see what you mean by fleshed it out some more. I really like the ideas that they've come up with. I remember some discussions on a forum about where the port should go. It seemed like the PA had a serious hard-on for Whiskey Island. I figured that the port should stay where its at rather than go there. The island idea is pretty smart. Still not a very quick solution but perhaps 10-20 years it could be completed. That should be enough time to get phase I and II to be completed along with perhaps a phase III. Overall, a very nice vision for the front door of Cleveland.

I would put the Aquarium as close to the GLSC as possible with tie-ins likely and perhaps control. Don't forget that Northcoast land area is going to be used for the Trolley museum. I don't think aquariums are terrible they're basically just zoos. I would hate to see a publically financed aquarium though. So perhaps some consortium of GLSC, Cleve Zoo, Nat History museum, and Aquarium group with deep pocket donors and developers it should be viable without needing to make it the biggest in the US. Biggest in Ohio or even Northeast Ohio should suffice..

I would tend to agree that Akron's economy as a whole is definitely in better shape than other cities. That doesn't mean that there are tons of high paying jobs available in the area. There are mainly a bunch of home-grown companies throughout the Akron area that people rely on for jobs. The bigger companies of course are Goodyear, First Energy, GOJO, Roadway now YRC, and Sterling(Jewelry) seem to all be doing quite fine. I'd say things are pretty stable and are expected to stay stable for the foreseeable future. There are several large companies just outside Akron area like Rubbermaid and Smuckers in Wooster/Orrville and the Canton area companies of Timken, Hoover, and Diebold. Then to the northern suburb of Hudson are Joann's fabrics and Fedex ground formerly a part of Roadway known as Caliber Logistics and huge AllState and Alltel operations. Regionally, the economy is very healthy. Major sign that an economy is healthy is construction going on: check out www.Northsidelofts.com, also www.akronartmuseum.org/newbuilding/index2.html. The Akron Canton airport is one of the fastest growing airports in the country and is expanding rapidly. The UofA has finished some major renovation of the campus. Its a radically different place from when I graduated from there a dozen years ago. There are various other projects going on in Akron like a 7 story building on Exchange and Main, the towpath going through downtown this year, UofA off-campus housing project as part of Spicer Village, and other various large projects in Elizabeth park and Highland Square. A new brewery is coming downtown called www.hoppinfrog.com from the guy that brought us thirsty dog. Akron has managed to put a fine downtown highlights website together www.downtownakron.com .

Akron- "We've got the blimp!" -Cd Truth

Whoops I meant East Bank.. grr..

Another good installment. However this definitely tastes of pie in the sky. The conceptual diagram doesn't seem to take into consideration the East Bank Flats Wolstein project and the possible new office building that would go alongside the WFL. That project seems far more likely to kick things into gear for what comes next. That project is pushing limits as far as 5000 or so people wanting to live downtown on the river near the lake. Its a pretty brutal little area right there with the wind coming off the lake. As far as those freight tracks, that seems rather difficult to bury them or just build over them. To suggest another 25-30,000 people want to live where the PA had been is wacky barring serious global warming. Also, take a look at Chicago's skyline. You don't see huge enormous buildings right on top of Navy Pier. There's maybe one high end multi-story building near there. I guess the Gold Coast you would have multi story buildings coming to the lakefront if the highway wasn't right there blocking them. As strictly a concept its obviously a very nice vision to provide a roadmap for the next 50-100 years. This is definitely no blueprint. I love the part of expanding out of the warehouse district. I would hope thats phase 2.

I'd say most Clevelanders think that Akron is part of their "Southern Suburbs" like Solon and Strongsville. To those of us in the Akron-Summit Co. area that of course is ludicrous. One thing that will freak out Cleveburgers is that people in Summit county have no clue what or who RITA is. Most people in Summit Co. don't read the PD. The ABJ reaches well into northern Summit co. Basically, when I say I'm going "into the city" or "downtown", I always mean Akron. Otherwise I'd say I'm going up to Cleveland. As far as analogies, I'd say its akin to saying Dayton is a suburb of Cinci or Toledo is a suburb of Detroit. Does anyone in Cleveland move to Akron area? Not that I'm aware of. The encroachment might be into say Hudson from Solon or something. Thats about it. I rarely meet people in the Akron area from Cleveland. Of course its probably rare for someone in Chagrin to go to Berea to grab a beer at the Cornerstone brewing co.

Portage Path/Merriman Road/Twin Oaks and even Highland Square areas are all pretty much West Akron. Highland Square is a mile or so away on W Market away from downtown Akron. The other roads are off of Market going north from Highland Sq. You'll see mansions on both streets for about 2 miles and they sort of meet in the Valley. Then pop through Sand Run Park in the valley and you've pretty much had the gee whiz experience of Akron. A good website for downtown Akron: http://www.downtownakron.com/ For restaurants if you're into top steaks check out Diamond Grille near downtown Akron on W. Market. If you like killer burgers check out the various Swensons Drive-ins, if you like you're burgers flame-broiled check out the various Skyway Drive-ins, if you like $3 steak dinners check out Annabells on Monday nights, if you enjoy Italian check out Luigi's for their amazing mozzarella covered salads in the well hidden Northside area of downtown, if you like gourmet/high end dining go to Ken Stewarts on W. Market or his Bath Twp place. The primary ice cream place is the Stricklands Custard stand near the Goodyear Airdock. There are several other quality Akron restaurants that I've neglected to mention in various other neighborhoods. For a great coffee shop check out Angel Falls in Highland Sq. House of Hunan also on W. Market has probably the best Chinese and Sushi hell maybe even Thai. Winking Lizards are my fave sports bars- one off of W. Market near Summit Mall. Grocery shopping isn't typically an interesting experience. The Akron area stores however have made it interesting. Acme the hometown chain has a surprisingly large selection of items and attractively laid out stores. Mustardseed Market is a wonderful place to find eco-friendly and healthy foods also a nice restaurant upstairs. West Point Market is a stunning store to go for hard to find international type foods. I'm always amazed walking around that store. All the stores are very service oriented. There's also another chain in nearby Medina that's also kicking serious ass - Beuhlers for overboard service. Portage Lakes in the south of Akron gives the city a different flavor. Check out the Harbor Inn down there for a little bit of Jimmy Buffet style. Hope that helps you decide what you want to go looking for.

I'm not aware of any particularly ethnic neighborhoods in Akron. There is no China town or little Italy. There perhaps are some generalizations of ethnicity in areas of Akron. For example, North Akron has a lot of Italians in it. The Southwest side of Akron has a lot of former West Virginians in it. Check out the Northeast OH link on the UrbanOhio.com page and then Akron and it gives a good idea of the architecture of the city and some neighborhoods. There's definitely a lot of history to Akron from the canals to Quaker Oats to becoming the rubber capital of the world. As far as nightlife: you got downtown, you got highland square-w.market, and there's the "valley". Check out Yahoo's maps and click on the interactive buttons for bars and/or restaurants and you'll see the density or Google Earth for that matter. Is there something in particular you are looking for?

Seriously, no touring concerts are missing out going to Akron because of a lack of an arena. EJ Thomas Hall and Civic Theatre take care of the travelling concerts quite well. If a bigger venue is needed they go with the JAR. If a bigger venue is needed, Cleveland is up the road. Also Blossom is available in the summer. They used to do the Monsters of Rock at the Rubber Bowl oddly enough. With 2 major colleges basketball programs in Kent and Akron I don't see why someone would be interested in seeing CBA or ABA. No want or need for a sports arena.

Well there is the JAR... I don't see a need for an additional arena in Akron. I imagine that LeBron will build one for St. V in 5-10yrs. At the moment the sports complex that is hot on the table to be added to the Akron skyline is a new stadium to replace the Rubber Bowl. It will be interesting to see what land options are available to place that in the downtown/UA area.

That makes total sense to build where there is momentum yet still open space. Warehouse District is definitely the hot area of town and to fill in with buildings that still will provide parking is a very good idea. This will create density numbers that developers look for in order to spin off of. Whats cool is Wolstein's Flats project should be able to tie into the next phase as both projects move towards the lakefront. This should challenge Forest City into doing something with Scranton. I look forward to the next issues of this piece.