Signs for Acorn Corner Approved

The renovation of Acorn Corner has cleared its last major city planning hurdle.

The Kent Planning Commission approved a comprehensive sign plan for the restoration of the building Tuesday.

The Kent Architectural Review Board gave the sign plan the green light earlier this month.

Michelle Hartmann, vice president of The Burbick Companies, presented the sign plan to the commission Tuesday.

"We did our best to minimize the signage and keep the historical integrity of the building," she said.

There are 11 total signs planned for the building.

The signs, and their locations, are:

1. Canopy sign over main entrance facing East Main Street. The canopy will feature three small logos, one on each side, for ground-floor anchor tenant Buffalo Wild Wings.
2. Hanging bracket signs on the north and east facades. Two hanging bracket signs; the east sign advertising Buffalo Wild Wings and the north sign advertising the Secret Cellar, a wine bar in the building's basement.
3. Panel signs on the Main Street facade. These signs will advertise upper-floor commercial tenants and are located above and beneath the first-floor windows on either side of the arch windows.
4. Tenant directories, historical marker. Two tenant directory plaques, one on the east face and one on the south face of the building, will identify the commercial tenants. A historical marker for the National Register of Historic Places will be located on the lower left corner of the Main Street facade.
5. "Franklin Hotel" sign. The large, painted sign on the building's west elevation will be repainted and framed to identify the building's date of construction, 1920, its year of finished renovation, 2013, and to bear its new name: Acorn Corner.

The signs were first presented to the Ohio Historic Preservation Office in Columbus, where state historic preservation officials also gave the plan their blessing.

Buffalo Wild Wings, the first-floor tenant, is set to open April 1 in Acorn Corner. The basement space, which became available when Kent Cycle opted not to move to the building, will tentatively be occupied by a wine and jazz bar.

Developer Ron Burbick said previously the building's grand opening is set for April 24.