Multiple Businesses on West Main Closing, Moving

Downtown Kent is booming, but just a few miles west of the city's central business district another commercial corridor isn't exactly thriving.

Several businesses flanking Kent's auto dealers on West Main Street have closed, moved or announced a forthcoming closure in the past two years.

Businesses that have closed or moved include: Main Street Tavern, which closed in the summer of 2011; TLC Liquor, which shut down this month; Firehouse Grille, one of several restaurants to open and close in the same location; and a branch of Huntington Bank that closed last year

Add to that list Dalton's Furniture, which announced earlier this year the store is going out of business after its remaining stock is sold, and at least five businesses on West Main Street have or will shut down within a 24-month period.

Chances for redevelopment

Ward 2 Kent City Councilman Jack Amrhein said he views the empty spaces as potential redevelopment opportunities for business owners and entrepreneurs.

"Certainly empty storefronts and businesses is not something that anyone in the city wants to see happening in the western corridor," he said.

Amrhein said the West Main corridor was identified by city officials as a targeted redevelopment area in the Kent Bicentennial Plan, which was approved in the last decade, to help foster business growth along the broader stretch of S.R. 59 between the Stow border and Longmere Drive.

Through multiple public meetings, the Bicentennial Plan identified these four goals for West Main Street:

• To improve the western entrance to Kent
• Strengthen existing businesses and encourage redevelopment
• Improve vehicular and pedestrian circulation
• And protect and enhance the surrounding neighborhoods

Amrhein believes Kent has already made progress towards the first two goals thanks to an expansion at an existing car dealership and the relocation of a publishing company.

In 2008 Don Joseph Toyota negotiated with city council and the Kent Board of Education to create a community reinvestment area surrounding the car dealership to keep the business from relocating to Streetsboro, OH. In exchange for a $12.6 million reinvestment the car dealer received a 12-year, 75 percent tax abatement on the work — which costs the schools about $22,000 annually — and a $25,000 loan from the city to buy land for the expansion.

This year, Record Publishing Company received a similar to relocate employees from neighboring Ravenna and Stow into a vacant, former Mazda dealership on West Main Street.

"They invested approximately $2.95 million in 22,140 square feet to accommodate the non-printing operations of the company’s newspaper business," Amrhein said. "Don Joseph Toyota decided to invest in Kent rather than move to Streetsboro."

A community priority

Despite some successes, West Main Street remains a priority for Kent Economic Development Director Dan Smith.

He said the city's has seen a fair amount of interest in small projects in the western corridor that he attributes in part to all the downtown redevelopment.

"It's not unusual to have 100 conversations," Smith said. "Maybe 10 of them that get to serious discussions. You know, four or five of them become actual projects.

"It's the western entrance to the city of Kent," he said. "I don't think that's going to become a dilapidated section of town. The Kent auto mile is still a huge draw for the city of Kent, and the number of employees that work there (represent) a significant level of income taxes."

The city continues to work with the small businesses and entrepreneurs interested in the western corridor by trying to connect property owners with potential new developers or owners.

City officials also refer those with proposals to the Kent Regional Business Alliance, a small business development center. The city then takes those with the most potential and tries to arrange business loans via Kent's Revolving Loan Fund to help get them started.

"You've got all those moving pieces and parts," Smith said.

Future growth

There may already be some hope on the horizon for redevelopment of a few of these vacant store fronts.

The Klaben Auto Stores has bought the former Huntington bank branch and has gotten approval from Kent's citizen planning boards to open a used-car dealership there.

Klaben also bought the former Main Street Tavern. That property transfer closed in September, according to the Portage County Auditor's Office.

Smith said he's heard there also may already be some interest in the Dalton's Furniture building after the store closes.

And Longhitano's Gallery Pub & Grille opened in the former Firehouse Grille location.

Amrhein said he's received few complaints from residents about the change over on West Main Street.

"I know people miss the Main Street Tavern, so I would say a similar restaurant on that sight would be popular," Amrhein said. "Hopefully Longhitano's Gallery Pub & Grille will have some staying power."