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Politics & Government

Downtown Construction Projects Moving at Good Clip

Kent Patch photo gallery chronicles three weeks of change and progress.

Several downtown construction projects are moving at a good clip, compliments of unseasonably warm winter temperatures and very little snow.

Leading the construction race is "Building A," which is now framed in at the corner of Haymaker Parkway and South Water Street. City Manager Dave Ruller reported in his Kent 360° blog on Feb. 5 that Fairmount's plumbing contractor is busy laying out the interior pipe network.

Fairmount is working to meet a deadline of opening the 13,000-square-foot "Building A" by late August for corporate tenant , which will relocate its 60 to 70 employees from Stow to the new structure.

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Running a close second is Fairmount’s "Building B," which is rising at the corner of Erie and South Water streets. AMETEK will move about 80 employees from its Lake Street facility to the 40,000-square-foot "Building B."

Ruller reported that Fairmount is looking to pour the second- and third-floor slabs in  "Building B" starting this week.

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Kent officials broke ground Aug. 9 with Fairmount, its Cleveland-based development partner, on the $29 million, 185,000 square foot mixed-use project. It will include at least three different buildings in the block bordered by Haymaker Parkway, Erie, South DePeyster and South Water streets.

Coming in third in the construction race is at the corner of South DePeyster and Haymaker-Parkway. Contractors there have been busy pouring footers for the basement.

The Kent State Foundation and Columbus hotelier The Pizzuti Companies broke ground in September on the hotel, which could open as early as next year.

Ruller said Pizzuti has placed its order for all of the hotel's structural steel and should be getting permits from the city to erect that steel in the next couple weeks. Pizzuti and Kent State are finalizing the interior design selections for the hotel, he said.

Finally, grading contractors have been busy preparing the site for ’s $26 million at Erie and DePeyster streets, for which ground was broken April 4.

The center, which will feature 10 bus bays, more than 300 parking spaces and about 20,000 square feet of retail space, is being paid for largely by a $20 million federal transportation grant. The target opening date is late 2012.

Ruller said PARTA's plans for the new large retaining wall to run behind the facility are expected to be submitted to city staff for review and approval this week. PARTA officials will be going out to bid for their concrete, HVAC and other trades contracts over the course of the next month, he said.

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