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I think the addition of Central-Hower should really help tie the north end of the campus together. With the possible addition of the hostess factory, UA is getting close to having a unified campus between exchange and market.

I guess what I don't get is the need to build the grocery on the odd sized lot. I think a lot of grocers turned them down because building there is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Why not go down the street a few blocks and buy out one of the used car dealers or one of the sprawling one story office buildings and build a grocery store on a proper size lot. I hate to sound like a pessimist, but after hearing and reading about it for so many years, I will believe it when I see dumptrucks pouring the foundation. With that being said, I think the Mustard Seed is a good choice for the neighborhood. If they can get it built, I imagine they will get quite a bit of business. I am also intrigued to see what the design of the store will look like. With such an odd shaped lot, it has a lot of potential to be architecturally interesting. I was not aware that Stark Enterprises was the developer for the Portage Crossing project. That does change my opinion somewhat. But even with their reputation I think it may be difficult to draw retailers, and if the project does end up going through, it will probably only help to turn Chapel Hill into Rolling Acres, although it seems to be heading in that direction already.

The City just announced 6 months ago that they were going to build a grocery store in Highland Square. There were never any plans before that. Retail sales were the best in 2011 since 2007, so retail isn't suffering. Here is a thread from 2005 discussing plans for the highland square store: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,6106.0.html It has been going on much longer than six months. I remember being asked to sign a petition on it when I first moved here in 2006. The fact that they are seeking federal funding for it makes me wonder how much of a sure thing it is. I could be wrong and hope I am. I do agree that retail has recovered some in the last year. But I am not sure it has recovered to the point where most retailers are thinking expansion. I guess my whole problem with the Portage Crossing project is that it will be rebuilding an existing store just to leave the old one empty. I haven't heard of any other retailers for the project. It seems like poor planning and it seems like they are building something just to build something. The reason the old plaza was razed was because they could not keep tenants in it. Chapel Hill is just a few minutes away. I just fail to see why a new retail center is needed in the area. A nice park would make the area much more appealing than yet another grocery store in the area.

I think the acme is the only one of the three that is more than a pipedream at this point. The portage crossing project was started before the financial collapse, and it seems like they are having trouble getting funding for it now. Even if they do get the funding, I think they are going to have a hard time attracting tenants. It is not near other major shopping areas and has poor highway access. It is in an area where the population is shrinking and getting poorer. Add to that the fact that most retailers do not have the money or the will to expand right now. It would be better land use to simply rebuild the giant eagle at its current location and make the portage crossing area a park. I believe the tops on graham has been sitting empty for several years now. The last thing that area needs is two massive empty stores on one stretch of road. I have been hearing about the highland square grocery store being almost ready to break ground since I moved here six years ago. The lot size is simply not big enough to fit a grocery store. At best it could hold a small corner store type grocer.

Unless you are a student or a senior citizen, the only apartment building downtown that I am aware of is the old ymca building behing lock 3 next to childrens hospital. There were some new townhome condos built on howard near the northside and I heard that those may be turned into rentals, but I am not entirely sure of that. Highland Square sounds most like what you are looking for. I would check out N Portage Path just north of West Market. That stretch of road has a lot of old 1920's era apartment buildings and is a very walkable area. I agree with the comparison to Clifton in Lakewood, but Portage has much less traffic. Temple Square in North Hill is an up and coming area with some similarities to Highland Square, but the area is still pretty rough around the edges. I lived in the valley for a year. It is not a bad place to live. The built environment is 1980's suburbia, but if you like the outdoors, there are a lot of parks close by. Firestone Park is a nice area, but it is more of a quiet, family oriented neighborhood. University Park/Spicertown has seen a lot of new investment the past few years, and the area looks to be on the upswing, but it is still a college student oriented neighborhood and I wouldn't suggest living there unless you are comfortable with the possibility that your neighbors may have 50 twenty year olds hanging out on the porch until 3 am every weekend. I am not sure you would like Ellet. It is Akron's version of Parma, but located within the city limits.

I tend to agree with KJP. Leveling a well built historical stone structure and replacing it with a McDonalds isn't exactly my idea of progress. This deal is also going to create an abandoned restaurant on Wolfs Ledges and an empty office building on Grant. While it may be a good deal for Rubber City McDonalds, I fail to see how it improves downtown Akron.

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear about some new private development in this area.

I was driving down Exchange today and I noticed the Europe Gyro being bulldozed. I was not even aware that they closed. Is anyone aware of plans for this lot? It seemed like a rather fast tear down, so I dont think it was condemned. That leaves me to think it was tore down for another purpose. I am hoping for some new construction and not a parking lot like the old record exchange building. The old zip strip could use some new establishments in that area, as it is pretty much down to bw's, pints and a couple of drive throughs.

I agree we are all in the same region, just disagree that we should all be one metro.

Maybe I would agree with that if there was a 30,000+ acre forest between the east and west side.

@jam40jeff If you reread my earlier post you will see that I state that Akron and Canton should remain seperate. I am well aware they are seperate MSA's, I was just trying to answer Clevelander17's question of what connection Akron and Canton share. In fact, if you read the rest of the sentence he quoted you would see this.

How so? Dowtown to downtown is less than a half hour drive and in between are the CAK airport, the Belden Village area and the suburb of Green. The area between the two is pretty much built out.

Perhaps you should do some more research http://lmi.state.oh.us/maps/MapofMSAs2000.htm

While I agree that there is a significant overlap between NEO cities, I guess the part I disagree with is that it should all be considered one area. I feel there is quite a different feel between the two cities. I think someone made a good point earlier in this thread about Cleveland having more of an Eastern European feel to it, while Akron has more of an Appalachian influence. I also dont like the idea of a metropolitan area having more than one city in it. It is kind of like referring to multiple areas of a city as downtown. While I agree the cities have some degree of interconnection, I thought that is what the CSA designation was for. While there is also a lot of connection between Akron and Canton, probably moreso than between Akron and Cleveland, I also believe they should remain seperated. Akron has a lot of momentum going for it at the moment, and I believe being swallowed up by the Cleveland metropolitan area would crush some of that momentum.

I live in Akron so I thought I would chime in. I like Cleveland and have no animosity or sense of rivalry towards it, but I really don't consider Akron to be Cleveland. I appreciate all Cleveland has to offer and I go to Cleveland a couple times a year for Indians games or for a change of scenery, but on a day to day basis, other than sports, Cleveland really doesn't register. I view Cleveland more as a neighbor, much like Pittsburgh or Columbus, only much closer. After reading through four pages of this thread it seems my fellow Akronites have a similar view. To me it seems the only people who have a different opinion are Clevelanders who are caught up in the "My metro area is bigger than your metro area" three-c pissing contest who need Akron to pad their stats.