The announcement last month that Huntington Bank is under contract to sell its two buildings on Akron’s Cascade Plaza means all four buildings on the central square are primed for redevelopment.
In addition to the Huntington announcement, the Development Finance Authority of Summit County said in September that an unidentified buyer had signed a letter of intent to buy the PNC building for $2.8 million. And that same month, a developer announced he was reviving a long-delayed plan to turn the former City Centre Hotel on the plaza into 137 apartments.
On top of that, Akron received $5 million in state money to renovate the parking deck that houses more than 2,000 spaces beneath the plaza.
Altogether, the announcements show an interest in Akron’s downtown core that can serve as a “force multiplier” to continue the trajectory, said Suzie Graham Moore, the director of economic development for the City of Akron.
“Everyone’s pointing their toes in the same direction,” she said. “That drives investment.”
Improving Akron’s downtown livability is a priority
Little is known about the expected buyers of the Huntington and PNC buildings except that they are from Northeast Ohio. Neither announcement of the expected sales identified the buyers, and no buyer has come forward.
Joel Testa, the Testa Cos. president who plans to redevelop the City Centre Hotel, said he thought one person was planning to buy all three buildings — but he could not confirm who that purchaser might be. One potential buyer, Joe Scaccio, said he had made a pitch to purchase the PNC Center but was rebuffed.
Regardless of the buyer, the redevelopment plans are likely to convert some of the office space on the plaza into living space. Ron Paydo, Huntington’s market president for Akron and Canton, said in a statement announcing the deal that he expected the redevelopment of the two buildings Huntington would be selling “to be a great step for the livability of downtown Akron and the surrounding area.”
Already, downtown Akron’s population has risen to 2,800 people, up from 1,800 in 2019, said Kimberly Beckett, the president of Downtown Akron Partnership. She said the organization hopes to have 5,000 downtown residents by 2029; the redevelopment of office buildings to add more living space would help with that effort. The Huntington Building, in particular, is set up “really well” for residential development, she said.
The result, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said, could be that the downtown core could truly become another of the city’s neighborhoods.
“All of these buildings really kind of function as one unit,” he said of Cascade Plaza. “It will help with the overall vitality of this part of downtown.”
Testa said he thinks it’s important to have a critical mass of residents in and around Cascade Plaza — including at The Bowery (the old Akron Savings and Loan building, more recently known as the Landmark building) and 159 S. Main St. (the old Akron Law Building), where office buildings have already been converted to residential use.
“I think it’s perfect,” Testa said. “There’s enough of a demand for housing that all four could be converted to residential and it still might not meet the total demand.”
Akron’s redevelopment efforts can be catalyst for more improvements
Malik said the city doesn’t have the financial resources or capacity to “quarterback every last thing downtown.” But Akron’s government has put a lot of energy and focus into ensuring Cascade Plaza is primed for redevelopment, including shepherding the Cascade Parking Deck improvements; it has also budgeted $900,000 on top of the $5 million the state has made available for the rehabilitation work.
Those kinds of strategic investments provide the kind of “nudge” that’s necessary to bring private development forward, said Matthew Rossman, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University who focuses on urban and economic development.
Rossman said the city’s work helps make the downtown office and hotel buildings into assets, not liabilities, even after changing work norms following the coronavirus pandemic led to fewer people working in person in a city center. Now, Akron has an opportunity to create a true mixed-use district, with office workers, residents and retail space that serves those groups.
The fact that it’s happening at multiple significant buildings all at once is a big deal, Rossman said. And it isn’t a coincidence.
“It can be catalytic for a downtown area,” he said. “There’s a momentum that builds. Four, five, six buildings in a relatively small area, you really start to see some significant changes in vibrancy.”
That’s one of the things Graham Moore, the city’s economic development director, is counting on.
The city has tried to make very clear what it’s trying to achieve downtown, Graham Moore said — from the number of residents it’s seeking to a better connection with the University of Akron, an effort that should pay off with the planned revitalization of the Polsky Building to better integrate the university into the city.
Since 2018, $176 million in private investment has come into downtown, Graham Moore said. That’s on top of $42 million the city spent to renovate Main Street, making it more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, and $17 million that went toward redesigning Lock 3, Akron’s central park.
“It’s an amazing opportunity because it’s right next to the center of downtown,” she said of the Cascade Plaza buildings. “It helps build the block-by-block effect we’re really longing for. It’s exciting because it’s investment on top of investment, and it’s working exactly the way we want it to.”
Connecting Akron’s long downtown
Graham Moore said she hopes that, as Cascade Plaza gets redeveloped, commercial office tenants will reconsider their suburban leases and begin to move back downtown to be in the center of activity. That helps create a sustainable city, she said — brings density that could eventually lead to more amenities, like a grocery store, being added downtown.
Preserving and revitalizing existing buildings are key to improving the downtown experience, she said. She expects first-floor retail in the Cascade Plaza buildings to benefit tenants in the area and said experiential retail, which provides things for people to do, is a key driver of interest in a city and will likely be a priority as well.
Beckett, with Downtown Akron Partnership, said people will continue to work downtown even if the buildings are largely converted to residential uses. More arts, culture and entertainment will follow, she said.
“We’re getting more residents, more activity,” Beckett said. “The more we can activate downtown, the [more] retail comes along.”
Because Akron’s downtown is centered on a long stretch of Main Street instead of encompassing a wide range of streets, Beckett said creating dense pockets is important for people to feel like there’s activity in the city. Connections to Lock 3, to the Polsky Building, to Canal Park and the art museum are all ways to expand the reach and connect with entertainment opportunities. And residential areas will continue to spread, she said. Accessibility to the towpath trail will help that effort, expanding what feels reachable.
Akron’s efforts are “particularly intriguing” because there are so many assets clustered close together, said Terry Schwarz, the director of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative. Schwarz said the efforts to remake the Innerbelt are also tied to the future of Akron’s downtown.
“It’s just such an interesting moment,” she said. “It’s critical mass that could be really transformational.”
Cascade Plaza was originally an urban renewal project, Schwarz said, calling whatever comes next “a renewal of the renewal.” She said there’s a lot of opportunity in so many large buildings changing hands at the same time: a “virtuous cycle” that allows more good things to happen.
“It’s a positive upward cycle,” she said. “It gives the city an amazing opportunity where the investments complement each other.”
Rossman, at Case Western, said one project tends to encourage the next. Once the city has 5,000 downtown residents, he said, it will likely feel full on a more regular basis — and become more of a place that people want to come to.
Akron is aiming to emulate Cleveland’s success in that sense, Malik said, as well as modeling its efforts after cities like Cincinnati, Columbus, Durham and Syracuse to help make the downtown more of a destination. He said the government will “continue to put a lot of energy and time and focus into this.”
“To have strong cities, you have to have a strong downtown,” he said. “It’s really, really wonderful. There’s a lot of good energy.”
‘It’s what Akron needs’
Having public money as part of the conversation makes these projects more likely to succeed, Schwarz said. She said she hopes conversations are happening across the buildings, so the redevelopment becomes a cohesive district and not just separate, disconnected improvements.
There are still a lot of questions about what might happen, she said, but she thinks the optimism is warranted. Akron’s goal of bringing more residents downtown is a good one, she said, with far-reaching benefits.
It may take a while for the improvements to be seen, she said, but when the projects all come online, there’s the possibility of a “shock and awe” effect given the concentration of development that would show that something in the city is really changing.
“Because of the canal, the Innerbelt, these spaces aren’t generic, they’re Akron-specific,” she said. “That’s what’s going to make these things work.”
Suggested Reading
There are a lot of different things happening in Akron to be excited about, said Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber. He said seeing cranes and scaffolding downtown can help create a new narrative about the city and start to build momentum for even more improvements.
It’s an effort that’s challenging, Beckett said, but ultimately worthwhile — even if, as the city continues to change, there’s always more to do.
But Testa, the developer, said concentrating development will likely be a game-changer for Akron.
Having a centralized neighborhood is an “incredible idea,” he said. Testa said the city has long suffered from “Whac-A-Mole development,” moving scattershot through different projects without having very much to show for it.
“If you took all the development that happens in a three- to five-year period, put it in a couple blocks, it would be transformational,” he said. “It shows people that Akron is still open for business. There’s demand to be downtown. It’s safe, it’s enjoyable, there’s a slew of benefits. I’m glad it’s happening because I’ve been preaching it forever. It’s what Akron needs.”