I found this website called www.metrolivingtour.com  for listings of the amenities and urban living options in the AK.  Its a slightly clunky website don't try to backspace or go back to the previous screen or you pop back out of the website.  Notice there is a magnifying glass at the bottom of the map.. 

 

It says there is a "Metropolitan tour of Akron" on October 4th.    It has an interesting depiction of the University Park condos as Spicer Village which I believe is under construction.. 

Awesome!

I have had to go to Akron a few times for work lately. I was really suprised how well maintained things were downtown. I hope to check it out more in the future. I guess I expected it to be worse. shame on me

I lived in Hudson before I moved to Cleveland and spent half my weekends in Cleveland, the other half in Akron. I'm really impressed by the strides they've made - it's still a tad too small for my tastes but they've really come a long way. I would *kill* to have something like Northside Lofts on the site just north of Riverview on West 25th.

I wish it wasn't held during the week :(

They've updated the website a little more..  They took off the depiction of the Spicer Village building with more actual pictures and it looks to be completed!  The rendering looked pretty sweet.  I'm not sure the actual building looks quite as sexy on the outside.  Although the inside pics look pretty cool.  Weird I haven't heard anything about this. 

 

There's also a large upscale apartment building being built on Main and Exchange St. thats not being listed on this website.  It will look slightly bigger and nicer than the E. Exchange Residence Hall shown. Its definitely in the same style of building but right in the middle of all the downtown action.  That will definitely make Akron more interesting.  Brubakers bar is set to open in Dec/Jan on the first floor if they can work that fast.  UA is having a difficult time finding dorms for all the students that want to live on campus.  So this will definitely improve that.

Imagine what would be going on in Akron if the economy was good

Intriguing thought..  I've come to realize and I think many others do as well that a good economy overall doesn't matter for Akron as long as its not a depression.  People are so used to being in a recession/minimal growth they're able to tough out anything.  What matters is smart growth and the city and county have been doing that for the past 10 years.  Let's say there was a really good economy right now.  I don't know if there would be any marked improvement in Akron whatsoever since it would "raise all boats" and likely just add people to Hudson, Bath, Medina, Jackson Township, etc. 

 

Akron has been a much larger city and can probably withstand an influx of 40-50,000 people without any constraints.  Unfortunately, the typical growth for any city in Ohio is outward far from a city's center with the state laws and suburban bias of the last 30 years+.  So not until state government stops trying to fund unsustainable suburban/exurban growth do I want to see a "good" economy with high growth.  Akron is growing organically with the expansions of Goodyear, Firestone, Summa Insurance and hospitals, AGMC, and Children's Hospital, First Energy, Sterling, Infocision, GoJo, and many more companies along with UA and help from organizations like the Knight foundation.  There's a lot of room for continued growth with reuse of grand old empty buildings.  Obviously there's a lot more smaller companies growing because of those companies doing well.  Exciting Akron times.

 

Also, there's definitely a renewed vigor downtown at night and on the weekends that I've never seen.  I chalk that up to good policy by the city.  Its stupid, but I think it really began when they started offering free parking downtown at night and on weekends.  No longer was the person parking their car on Main St. a sitting duck for the metermaids and the beggars.

I think a good economy would help Akron Proper. It would mean less bleeding of jobs from the manufacturing sector, which is doing much better in Akron, lately, due to the increase in exporsts, as a result of the weak dollar. I believe that there might be more expansions of current business in Akron, added to a couple more expansions into Akron.

 

As far as the regionalism that has taken place and becoming more popular, people hate when I say it, but the truth is the truth. The suburbs have saved the inner cities in NE Ohio. Luckily, many people who could no longer stand life in the city, didn't find a need to have to move out of the region or the state. They simply moved out of the city. If not for urbanized suburbs, people who like urban life but couldn't make it in the cities of Northeast Ohio, would have left completely. When people lost their jobs in the city, the suburbs had jobs, so many of those people who would have left, simply drove a little further to go to work. They got off work and came back to the city to spend their money, keeping the cities going. The cities now have a chance to draw these people back in and more people from out of the area. I know there has been a price to pay for this, we now have the city, then the urbanized suburb. There will still be real suburban life, it will just be further out than it use to be. As far as the inner cities, they are reorganizing and will begin to compete with the suburbs again. As the economies of Cleveland and Akron get better, they have far too many resources, amenities and things to offer for the suburbs to continue to compete. The cities will begin to win the development. They can offer the biggest tax breaks, infrastructure improvements, entertainment, etc. In this case, regionalism has saved this area. A price has been paid, but not too big of a price, I think.