JamesMatthew

Correct. The Innerbelt work was never about deconstruction. It was about reconfiguring to lessen the maintenance burden. It was sold very differently. It was sold as genuine deconstruction. There were town halls seeking community input on what to do with the space once it was truly clear again; with the new road pattern, in hindsight, all those town halls were based on completely false premises. I hadn't even heard of this Innerbelt National Forest project until recently and it's honestly an excessively grandiose name for something so small. The name makes it sound like a serious extension of the MetroParks/CVNP system, and there isn't enough newly-freed space for it to be anything of the kind. Not trying to sound negative but from the pics ASP added it looks congested and slightly hillbilly. Hopefully it looks better in person. Will probably be a rest stop for the trail rather than a destination.

Was told this weekend that a microbrewery and a deli signed on to be in the building with the theatre. From what I noticed, they've been doing some work on one of the retail spots. Also, the small strip with the starbucks should be breaking ground next month.

Right, there were in that building that Signet (Sterling) owns. I think they use the whole building now (Signet). I don't think the Mahogany Row has been filled. When I was in there a couple times, the large room was used for event space. But that building is filled with apartments for the most part. New office would be across the street where SummaCare is going in. Unless I'm confused was to where that actually is? I walked around on the first floor when I was there in May. Looks very neat and clean. The theatre is first class. That was my first time in that building since the late 90's when I did an engineering explorer program with Goodyear back in high school. We spent a lot of time in that big room with Mahogany on everything. From what I've been able to gather, Smuckers is the company moving in. Unless I'm wrong, I don't believe they've met the criteria to receive the tax credit from the Big Heart acquisition yet. Mainly bring 400 job to Ohio. They also claimed to build a new research facility. I almost applied for an r/d position for them which was advertised to be in SF with relocation back to Ohio. Now with the newest acquisition they will definitely need office space. I believe that company acquired has about 500 employees with probably some being cut and 100 or so jobs moving to Ohio. Each floor in the building where SummaCare is has slightly over 60,000 sq ft. Meaning they'd probably take up 2 floors. Unless they go into the back buildings not on Goodyear Blvd. I think that'd be a better spot for offices and research. But I could be wrong. We'll see.

Someone mentioned up thread about Smuckers. Which was really a good guess, however I stated it seemed they had more land they could build on around their campus. They recently bought a pet food company and are having an influx of people to the area. If they were to move, it would be more for the fact that they would want an urban campus to attract talent. I remember an article from a few years back saying that the ceo, Mark Smucker, bought a house in west Akron. He may be trying to bring a portion of the company to the city. I believe they have about 1700-1800 employees in Orrville. I'm sure all the acquisitions as of late created the demand for more office space. There is room where the city created those round-abouts near the current Goodyear hq for manufacturing if they decided to move all pet food business to Akron. Would still be able to keep the Orrville footprint as well.

"not currently located in the area..." I'm wondering what was meant by that. Not Currently in Akron, NEO, or Ohio as a whole.

My brother in law attended the meeting regarding this. I believe it wasn't a stand alone and had out buildings on the street similar to the testa development in Cuyahoga Falls. But Goodyear just recently repaved that parking lot as that they still house some labs in the research building on Goodyear. It may be scraped or on a shelf right now. Adding to something I touched earlier, the company looking at The East End has in excess of 1100 employees I'm told. With Goodyear, Summa, and this company there could easily be 2,000- 3,500 people during main working times. Which would mean that area would need to draw restaurants and some retailers too. I'm sorry y'all. It wasn't 1100 employees but rather a parking garage for 1100 cars. So it doesn't necessarily mean 1100 employees. They've already built a bridge behind the main building to a connector which would connect to a parking garage.

My brother in law attended the meeting regarding this. I believe it wasn't a stand alone and had out buildings on the street similar to the testa development in Cuyahoga Falls. But Goodyear just recently repaved that parking lot as that they still house some labs in the research building on Goodyear. It may be scraped or on a shelf right now. Adding to something I touched earlier, the company looking at The East End has in excess of 1100 employees I'm told. With Goodyear, Summa, and this company there could easily be 2,000- 3,500 people during main working times. Which would mean that area would need to draw restaurants and some retailers too.

Forgot to mention about the former bank at the intersection of E. Market and Goodyear. I was told that it would cost too much to renovate that space into an upscale restaurant. Would be more cost effective for a restaurant to build new. So the space will remain empty until the East End is viable enough to justify spending the money to do it. There was talk about a Giant Eagle Market District being built at the parking lot/ball fields on Goodyear. Not sure if that is still in consideration though. The Starbucks strip center is bland in design compared to things being built on the Westside of Akron. Hopefully the former YMCA building can be razed and walkable retail can be installed.

I stopped in to the new barbershop at the goodyear theatre to get a cut and the owner and I got to talking. He said that another large undisclosed company is considering the east end complex but in order to accommodate them a parking garage will be needed. The developer and the city are in discussions regarding that. Also, here's the design of the new retail to be constructed soon. http://www.loopnet.com/listing/1201-e-market-st-akron-oh/12386758/

A Starbucks in the heights. That will definitely attract people from off of the highway. There isn't one with a near direct entance/exit from 76 between Wadsworth and Austintown. That's a long distance.

Does anyone have any information on this? Student Housing Master Plan: http://www.designcollective.com/portfolio/project/university-of-akron--student-housing-master-plan/

Any chance for an adult style arcade like d&b to find it's place near downtown or in the rebuilding by goodyear?

About time. I'm wondering why that convenience store is in a hotel.

The hotel is supposed to have a full service restaurant and bar from my understanding. I don't actually see the east end project portion of restaurants and retail in the near future.

I hope they put a nice restaurant in the hotel as promised. I recently moved over to the heights and would love a nearby upscale choice.

That concept of the arena is a few years old. There has been additional interest in that lot of land on main street. Last year the schipper group developed conceptual drawings for a 7 story office building at the corner of main and buchtel. I believe it was expandable to 10-12 stories if the need was there. Ideally, I'd prefer to see an arena there but if there were a need for office space by a medium to large company in downtown I'd accept that. I enjoy seeing multi-leveled (5 stories +) buildings in a downtown setting and Akron could use a few more.

I found the following images of the Akron Children's Hospital expansion. The parking garage is to be 6 stories and the new hospital tower is to be 8 stories.

An arcade would thrive if it were put in the university park area or even the sourthern portion of downtown near the student housing. If it were put in Elizabeth park or north hill it would fail massively just based off of the clients pulled from the areas (known for crime, thugs, and other negative things.) Akron already has children's arcades ( CEC, Roccos Pizza.) So an arcade for college students and young adults would work fine.

Thats the united building addition. Don't see that one happening soon unless western reserve media needs more space. Both spaces just seem odd empty. Kinda like lock 3 main st street view. A few buildings there would be good as well with the park being a hidden jewel behind. And if townhomes were to be built there on a canal it would definitely be hidden.

A great place for a loft building would be the empty spot next to the chemstress building. A 6-8 story building could be connected to the the market/high parking deck for resident parking. It could even be taller due to the limited space there. Could also serve as a hotel spot. If connected to the parking deck it would then have a presence near the convention center which the city wants. That's just an idea. Not a fan of the empty space there between buildings. Looks odd. This is not Detroit

New student housing/retail building planned for East Exchange Street By Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer Published: June 13, 2012 - 10:59 PM A new student housing and retail building is planned for a block of East Exchange Street that now has three empty storefronts. The $15 million, five-story development would have seven storefronts on the bottom and dorms for more than 400 students on top. Akron City Council approved plans for the building, proposed for the south side of Exchange between Allyn and Sumner streets, at its meeting this week. Councilman Jeff Fusco said this and other housing additions by the university and private developers have greatly improved the housing selection for University of Akron students. He said he and other “gray hairs” can remember what the housing choices used to be like. “This is definitely a step in the right direction,” he said. The building is part of the effort to improve the area around UA. The University Park Alliance’s master plan, released last year, lists developing the Exchange Street corridor as one of its goals. [/url]http://www.ohio.com/news/new-student-housing-retail-building-planned-for-east-exchange-street-1.313915] http://www.ohio.com/news/new-student-housing-retail-building-planned-for-east-exchange-street-1.313915

I found another design concept in the downtown area for the state st bridge. Not sure if I'm sold on the cafe design under the bridge. http://www.cssboston.com/portfolio/Akron.html

Link is fixed. The cut and past cropped off the 'r' but once again I have restored order to the Akron area discussions.

I'm ready to watch some football.... Brownies!!!

Glad to see some of the blight being removed. That church looks like it was a wonderful building in its hay day but its course has run. On a side note, burge architecture has done some interesting design concepts for projects in downtown. Check them out. http://www.burge-architecture.com/portfolio/cotter-urban-design-study http://www.burge-architecture.com/portfolio/united-commerce-center