Will Akron ever get the development Cleveland is getting? (Columbus: lofts, condominiums)

[goofy328]

I only post this in this forum because Cleveland has an active development forum and Akron does not. Then I look at all of the cool stuff happening in downtown Cleveland, and I wonder if there is any development going on in Akron whatsoever. There is no development forum on Akron C-D; when I look online I do not see anything about development in Akron and is it safe to say that there isn't any new development going on Akron, and probably will not be in the foreseeable future?

I haven't lived in Akron since the 90s. But I gather, that someone on this forum might know of something going on in Akron.

[Peregrine]

Akron has been busy, too. Not as busy as Cleveland, but still getting some stuff done.
Akron was the first larger(er) city in Ohio that installed free wifi to cover the entire downtown district. How cool is that?
Let me find that link I saw recently....
Here it is:
Downtown Akron | Business Downtown | Development Projects

[costello_musicman]

Although Cleveland seems to dominate with the construction news, there is definitely some Akron listed and tracked here as well: Northeast Ohio Projects & Construction

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Akron has been busy, too. Not as busy as Cleveland, but still getting some stuff done.
Akron was the first larger(er) city in Ohio that installed free wifi to cover the entire downtown district. How cool is that?
Let me find that link I saw recently....
Here it is:
Downtown Akron | Business Downtown | Development Projects

I am familiar with the free Wi-Fi. That is pretty cool, I wish we had that here. I did find information on articulated buses, which Akron is the second city in Ohio to do so.

It may be that the scope of projects is not of the magnitude that they are in Cleveland. One major coup, at least in my opinion, was the construction of a Summa Health Care system tower downtown on the site of a property that had been abandoned my entire childhood. Downtown Akron, although not of the scope of downtown Cleveland, does have a few things going on for it.

I like the fact that you can live downtown (or near it) in Akron for less than $1,000. In Norfolk, the price 401 Lofts is asking for will get you in the slums a mile away from downtown. The main library is very nice; updated from what it was before, reminiscent of the seventies, and is now a modern building.

The last time I was in the O'Neil building it was being used for other purposes, might have been a DMV or something I'm not sure. Glad to see it has been restored, and that they still have the Christmas displays there.

I guess there are interesting things going on in Akron. Just not talked about much on C-D. I'm going to sign up with Urban Ohio so I can stay in the loop.

[SquareBetterThanAll]

It doesn't but from an urban infrastructure perspective Akron is significantly smaller. The East End project should be interesting, that is a massive undertaking. I want to say it is projected to top $100 million but I could be wrong. Really though no matter what they may argue Akron is not the primary city in the region and as such does not get as much of a focus.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by SquareBetterThanAll

It doesn't but from an urban infrastructure perspective Akron is significantly smaller. The East End project should be interesting, that is a massive undertaking. I want to say it is projected to top $100 million but I could be wrong. Really though no matter what they may argue Akron is not the primary city in the region and as such does not get as much of a focus.

Akron was never as diverse as Cleveland. Particularly considering that the Rockefeller's were in Cleveland for a time before they moved to New York. But even after that Cleveland continued to grow economically, and ethnically, in ways Akron was never able to take advantage of.

But I'm not as interested in Akron's past as I am its future. It will be really interesting to see what happens over the next few decades. The East End project looks like it will be placed where the old Goodyear factory was built.

Another thing about this development is that it spreads urban development away from downtown into the neighborhoods, which is what is occurring in a lot of American cities. Creating other dense environments should spark development throughout the city.

As you can tell from the website, that area is urban, but it isn't as modern as it could be and seems stuck in the past. Very good find, glad you told me about this one ...

[andrew61]

The last time I was in Akron, I felt like I was in Elgin, Illinois. Not a bad town, but very underwhelming for its size.

[Townes Van Zandt]

Over the past ten years or so Akron has essentially turned into a giant college town. The U has grown while the city in general has shrunk. The result is that downtown is basically overrun with student housing and college oriented bars and restaurants. Most of the major developments have been either downtown or near the University.

And UA is about 10 steps ahead of Cleveland State in terms of development. Everything CSU is currently doing, UA did at least 5 years ago. Admittedly, it helps that Akron has a significantly larger on campus student population than CSU.

IMO downtown Akron, although smaller, is actually much cleaner and less spread out than downtown Cleveland. The area where Cleveland blows Akron out of the water is neighborhood development. There isn't an Akron neighborhood which has completely re-transformed itself the way Ohio City and Tremont have. Granted, Akron didn't decline to the same extent as Cleveland, so maybe that isn't a fair critique because Akron neighborhoods didn't need to "re-transform". Akron still has the type middle class neighborhoods that Cleveland lost to the suburbs decades ago.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by andrew61

The last time I was in Akron, I felt like I was in Elgin, Illinois. Not a bad town, but very underwhelming for its size.

Interesting comparison.

Elgin is a very rapidly growing city though. The mayor stated it would be the second largest city in Illinois in 40 years. Not sure I can say that about Akron, which is experiencing a slow population loss.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by ksu sucks

Over the past ten years or so Akron has essentially turned into a giant college town. The U has grown while the city in general has shrunk. The result is that downtown is basically overrun with student housing and college oriented bars and restaurants. Most of the major developments have been either downtown or near the University.

And UA is about 10 steps ahead of Cleveland State in terms of development. Everything CSU is currently doing, UA did at least 5 years ago. Admittedly, it helps that Akron has a significantly larger on campus student population than CSU.

IMO downtown Akron, although smaller, is actually much cleaner and less spread out than downtown Cleveland. The area where Cleveland blows Akron out of the water is neighborhood development. There isn't an Akron neighborhood which has completely re-transformed itself the way Ohio City and Tremont have. Granted, Akron didn't decline to the same extent as Cleveland, so maybe that isn't a fair critique because Akron neighborhoods didn't need to "re-transform". Akron still has the type middle class neighborhoods that Cleveland lost to the suburbs decades ago.

All good points. I think the East End Project is a way to get development away from Akron University and create a new neighborhood across from the Goodyear headquarters. Akron has always been a middle class town, which is okay, but it needs amenities to attract other individuals to the city. Not saying it has to turn into a hipster trove like parts of NYC has but it needs something for young working professionals that might actually prefer to stay in condominiums and lofts, something us older folks don't care about so much.

Cleveland had urban decay that was on the level of Detroit and Chicago. The only other cities in Ohio that have experienced this are Dayton and Youngstown, perhaps Cincinnati, Columbus has its slums, but due to annexation is very suburban in the outer ring neighborhoods. This is of course the larger cities in Ohio there are a hundred abandoned cities that existed for one purpose, and one purpose only, industrially. That may be why you haven't seen the retransformation of Akron neighborhoods.

But you say downtown Cleveland, as big as it is, isn't as dense and packed in as one would assume?