Chief Source Staff Investigates New Development
There is no more clear delineation between the haves and the have nots in Akron than the short drive down Memorial Parkway. On the top of the hill is Portage Country Club and the beautiful homes of Merriman Road. As you turn onto Memorial Parkway and begin the descent into the valley, the metro park creates a border and when you cross it you feel like you are in another city. However, before you climb out of that valley you will drive through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and some new housing that is looking to promote living on the Towpath trail. They had an open house this past weekend and Terra, her husband Greg, and I went to check out the new development "Hickory." Click each picture for a larger view:
The homes are starting at around $250,000. The complex will have 70 homes when completed. We saw "The Portage" and the "The Mustill" model homes. They had large front porches, beautiful bathrooms, cool paint colors, and bungalow style architecture. The interesting thing about this development is a large section of low income housing is just up the hill. It will be interesting to see the effect the "Hickory" has on the lower income housing close by. The good news is that our city is growing.
The Beacon has an editorial this morning cataloging other investment in Akron:
The homes are starting at around $250,000. The complex will have 70 homes when completed. We saw "The Portage" and the "The Mustill" model homes. They had large front porches, beautiful bathrooms, cool paint colors, and bungalow style architecture. The interesting thing about this development is a large section of low income housing is just up the hill. It will be interesting to see the effect the "Hickory" has on the lower income housing close by. The good news is that our city is growing.
The Beacon has an editorial this morning cataloging other investment in Akron:
- Downtown - $151 million - Canal Park, the Civic Theatre, the new Main Library, the new Akron Art Museum, the refurbished O'Neil's
- East Exchange Street by UA - $32 million project - on the south side of the university with housing, office and retail space named Spicer Village
- $35 million Northside Lofts
- North Downtown - $50 million - will have gone into the transformation of the former Elizabeth Park public housing complex (under the Y bridge) into Cascade Village
- Market Street - $12 million expansion - St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (Lebron revenue?)
By Kyle - 5/30/2006
7 Comments:
Those houses were pretty cool. I have to say I'm surprised by the price.
We've seen this "bringing up the neighborhood" thing before. Greg and I lived in an apartment on Portage Path. Our landlord bought some land down the street and built new apartments that were much smaller and not as cool, but charged a lot more than our vintage apt. They were trying to bring up the neighborhood. These houses are designed with the same purpose in mind. They are in a great location, and built with interesting styles and layouts. The "Hickory" theme creates the feeling of the small-town community. It's nice to see the city growing, and anticipating higher income home-buyers.
Thanks for the report! I've been following this development in the ABJ. As a recent transplant from Chicago, I've seen this urban renewal strategy work very successfully (perhaps a bit too successfully in some Chicago neighborhoods).
The first time I saw this development tucked in the woods I thought I was hallucinating!
Two interrelated thoughts.
The St. V expansion isn't LeBron revenue, it's White Hat revenue. D. Brennan -- who thinks that public schools just need to magically spend less money -- dropped $10 Mil on St. V's a few years back.
Hickory developer Tony Troppe is an old friend from college. I ran into him just before the election. He was pretty keen on getting that levy passed. If it doesn't pass in November, anyone with property in Akron is going to lose big. It's about the schools, but it isn't just about the schools.
Thanks for the clarification on St. V. It was pure speculation on my part.
People don't understand how connected the quality of our public schools is to our development potential.
We spent part of a Sunday a few weeks back driving through both Hickory and the Elizabeth Park build out. Gotta say, I'm floored by the Hickory pricing.
The E-Park bit, I thought it was supposed to have more stand-alone homes, but I only saw one (could have missed others). It was mostly townhouses.
Either way, I too am glad someone is building here.
I too was struck by the lack of privacy in both Elizabeth Park and Hickory. I will be curious to see who moves into these homes given their close proximity to shady parts of Akron.
Hi there. I'm Terra's mom from Portland Oregon. It was interesting to see this post and I am wondering....Terra said it's nice to see the city growing & there's anticipation of higher income buyers. That's a good positive way to look at it. From over here on the west coast when I see the same type of home development going on I don't look at it in the same way. 'We' say, "the Californians are all moving here, after they sell there very expensive homes and move here". In comparison it's much cheaper to live in Oregon. I am seeing many of the forest and agricultural land being taken up by builders and in my opion, far to many homes in a very small area. There are not many homes on the market so the choices are the very small homes with a yard that they can mow with a pair of scissors in about 30 minutes. We live in what was once considered a normal property site. Now if we were to sell our home and property you could fit about 8 homes on it. Again, no yard! The up side for me is that is feels so European and I like that. I will be watching your growth. Have a good day.
Connie/mom
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