Thursday, May 23, 2013
Esplanade construction forces closure of roadway near Kent State campus
South Lincoln Street will close for 30 days starting Tuesday so Kent State University can continue work to extend the Esplanade from campus to downtown Kent. The road will be closed from East Main Street to Hilltop Drive. The road is scheduled to reopen Friday, June 28. Workers will be installing the brick work for the pedestrian pathway in the South Lincoln Street roadway so the path can continue its march from Kent State, through the neighborhood west of campus and up to the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center. Both city and university officials anticipate the path will open in July. On its way downtown, the Esplanade also will cross South Willow Street, which city officials are considering closing permanently for the …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Kent native, now a Florida resident, looks forward to seeing downtown Kent's revival
Linda Harvey is excited about returning to her hometown in September. A 1958 graduate of Kent State High School, Harvey is planning the 55th reunion of her graduating class. Harvey, now a Fort Myers, FL, resident, hasn't been home to Kent in five years — right before real progress on downtown's more than $100 million redevelopment started. "This is an exciting time for Kent, and we’re all excited about being there and seeing it," Harvey said. Harvey attended Kent State University School as an elementary student when the teacher training school was located in Franklin Hall on campus. Eventually the school was moved to the Michael Schwartz Center, where Harvey and her class graduated from. By 1982 the grade-school element of Kent State …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
"In the spirit of early intervention I thought it might make sense to share some thoughts on the topic of paid parking in Kent," the city manager said in his most recent blog about parking downtown.
Parking. It's been a hot topic in Kent for awhile now. Many are happy with some improvements, and the fact that the new garage is free this month, but many are griping about the cost to park on social media, according to Kent City Manager Dave Ruller in his most recent blog. Patch asked its readers on Facebook about their thoughts on parking downtown. Here's what they had to say. With the news that parking at the PARTA deck is free until April, Ruller said he's noticed "the social networks have started to light up with questions of paying for parking in downtown Kent. In particular we’re hearing some rumbling about the prospect of metered parking stations planned for later this year on certain downtown streets." So here's the answer: …
Friday, May 3, 2013
Council approves license agreement for building foundation
Kent City Council signed off on a license agreement this week that will allow Fairmount Properties mixed-used 'Building C' to occupy a portion of the public right-of-way on South DePeyster Street. The foundations of the $4.5 million building will encroach an estimated 2 inches, and the footers will encroach as much as 10 inches into the right-of-way, according to a memo from the city manager's office to council. Kent City Manager Dave Ruller said the encroachments will all be below ground. "We have approved similar encroachments for the other buildings in the redevelopment project," he said. The building, which will stand at the southwest corner of the intersection of South DePeyster and Erie streets, will house Bricco, an Akron-based …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Drivers will be able to park free through May
With little public fanfare, the 365 public parking spaces in PARTA's Kent Central Gateway transit center opened downtown Tuesday. The bus transfer and commercial spaces in the deck have yet to open, but many Kent residents and business owners cheered the opening of the parking spaces virtually with "likes" and positive feedback spreading like wildfire on social media. Frank Hairston, director of marketing for PARTA, said drivers who pulled into the deck when it opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday flashed the thumbs up to transit authority administrators gathered for the early opening. "If you go online, everybody’s saying that ‘Hey I get a parking space downtown!'" Hairston said. "And they’re all happy right now. There’s still work going on the …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Street furniture on Erie Street part of downtown redevelopment
Workers installed new concrete benches and flower planters on Erie Street and throughout the downtown redevelopment block Thursday as part of the road reconstruction project that started last year. Originally, the city budgeted for the installation of 40 new benches as part of the street reconstruction. The new street furniture contributes to the overall redevelopment project. The city installed new trees along Erie Street in October.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Buffalo Wild Wings opened Monday on first floor of renovated old Kent hotel
Buffalo Wild Wings opened to the public for the first time Monday as the first tenant in the newly renovated Acorn Corner at the intersection of Main and DePeyster streets in downtown Kent. The opening marks a milestone in the landmark building, where the upper floors have been vacant and condemned for nearly 40 years and the main floor has been empty and boarded up for more than a decade. Monday also was the first time the public got the chance to see developer Ron Burbick deliver on his promise to restore the 1920s era structure after buying it from the city in November 2011. A brief illness kept the developer from attending opening day for the restaurant, which boasts 55 TVs — including a 35 feet by 8 feet TV above the bar — and about 7…
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-81.356813
/articles/restored-acorn-corner-opens-to-public-3252d93d
/locations/9147385
Monday, April 1, 2013
New outdoors outfitters shop part of class of new stores in redevelopment
About a week ago I shared the news of three new restaurants downtown that closed last month mostly due to lackluster sales. For the sake of balance, I pointed to many of the successful, enduring businesses downtown that remain — including other stores that had opened around the same time those that closed first turned on the lights. When I didn't mention his business, and rightfully so, Tim Nightengale at Wild Earth Outfitters contacted me to share the fact that his outdoor outfitter — open less than two years — is doing quite well despite multiple road closures and the other challenges that come with being located at ground zero for construction of Kent's redevelopment. So I was surprised when he hesitated after I asked for his secret to …
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Wild Earth Outfitters
175 E Erie St, Kent, OH
/articles/wild-earth-weathers-the-storm-downtown
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Friday, March 22, 2013
Three eateries in downtown Kent closed this month
This week we learned three of Kent's newer eateries that opened as part of downtown's redevelopment were forced to close their doors. The Dog Squad and Arctic Squirrel, a gourmet hot dog shop and ice cream parlor, closed their doors one week ago today. Soup joint Funky Ladles also shut down. They're certainly not the first. And they won't be the last. Do you remember Vintage Rehab? The store sold gently used clothing and was one of the first tenants in the first phase of the Acorn Alley redevelopment. The store closed in 2010 after being open slightly more than a year. The silver lining there is that Off the Wagon expanded by taking over the former clothier space. Did you ever peruse the fabrics at Katie Brooke Quilt Shop? The sewing and …
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Cleveland radio station is latest media outlet to feature story of $100 million downtown redevelopment
Downtown Kent's revitalization just can't stay out of the news. This week, WCPN 90.3 FM aired a feature story about Kent's rebirth after decades of stagnation. You can listen to the news spot by clicking here. Like the recent New York Times feature on downtown Kent, the Cleveland radio station talks about how the redevelopment came about. Unlike the Times, WCPN acknowledges Acorn Alley developer Ron Burbick for his role in the redevelopment.
Drew
9:47 am on Thursday, May 23, 2013
I don't know about the left turn issue, but I asked the city about S.Willow via twitter yesterday. Their reply was "Yes, S. Willow will reopen prior to the closure of S. Lincoln." more ›