Real estate agent Barb Snyder has waited a long time.
In 1990, she and her late mother, Elsie, bought a Victorian home at South Maple Street and Myrtle Place for their office.
Drug dealing and prostitution troubled the neighborhood bordering West Market Street , but the Snyders set on a mission to create an area for quaint, Victorian businesses and homes. They renovated a row of houses, but the western edge of downtown Akron never quite got off the ground.
That was before neighborhood watch groups took hold. Before police beefed up patrols.
Before businesses invested millions of dollars.
And before Old No. 3.
Akron developer Tony Troppe has begun to restore a former fire station at South Maple and Crosby streets that he calls Old No 3. The Italian Renaissance Revival-style building, built in 1901, is a city of Akron Historic Landmark. The only other downtown buildings with similar architecture are the Art Museum and the Hermes building at Main and Market streets, Troppe said.
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"I’ve been looking at it for years. (Some buildings) cry out for you to take care of them," he said.
Troppe is managing partner of a group of investors, also known as Old No. 3, that purchased the building last fall for about $150,000. The group is separate from other investment/restoration groups Troppe is involved with around downtown. The group plans to invest an additional $500,000 in the building.
Old No. 3, the building, will house some type of family-style Italian restaurant on the first floor and a martialarts dance studio on the second floor by the end of the year. In July, Structura Architects Ltd. will move from Cuyahoga Falls into the third floor.
Troppe calls his project a ray of hope.
"This is how neighborhoods get revitalized," he said.
Snyder said she hopes the project by Troppe, a developer known for his restoration of neglected historical buildings, will "be the spark that will ignite things to finally happen."
Nearby activity
Truth be told, there’s been plenty of activity around the corner, along West Market.
ACCESS Inc., the emergency shelter for homeless women and children, completed a $1 million expansion last fall.
St. Vincent-St.Mary High School is in the midst of its $12 million plan to renovate its existing building and build an addition, new entrance and courtyard along West Market.
"It’s going to be dramatic," said headmaster David Rathz.
The school has not decided the exact timeline of projects, but Rathz said two buildings – a vacant brick building on Market and West streets and the former Corporate Express office building on Market and Maple – will be demolished.
The brick building will be the first building torn down, but no plans have been made for that space, which may remain green space for the first year, Rathz said.
The school has all of the property it needs to build its addition and frontage on West Market, Rathz said. Trustees continue to negotiate for other pieces of property, because the school could use more sports facilities, he said.
John Heard, owner of A-1 Office Furniture, which is between the two parcels the school intends to tear down, said no one has approached either him or the building’s owner to sell.
"We’ve been here going on nine years and we’re very happy with the location," he said. "All of the improvements along here enhance our business."
However, at least one business proprietor near the high school doesn’t want to move.
"They’re going to have to pry the mortgage from our cold, dead hands," said Terry Faix, manager of Star Transmission, which is directly in front of the high school on Market Street.
The St. Vincent-St.Mary expansion is key to the revitalization of the area, Troppe said.
"We’re really embracing the investments that St. V’s is doing," said Troppe said, adding that the restaurant he is bringing in will complement the school. "St. Vincent’s is the main anchor, but we needed an additional place to start serving the firemen, after school and after-game athletic crowds.
"Troppe declined to identify the entrepreneur he’s working with for the family-style Italian restaurant, other than to say it was someone with local ties and that the restaurant would not be another location of an existing eatery.
For now, Troppe’s crews are busy renovating the inside of the fire station, sandblasting bricks and restoring original details. In time, Troppe said he’ll restore the bell tower to the building. (The previous owner removed the fire pole.)
Troppe said he also has his sights on building eight town homes in the area, which would sell for approximately $100,000 to $140,000.
Old No. 3 is a short hike from another of Troppe’s projects, residential homes on Hickory Street. Troppe said creating more housing near downtown will only help the city’s vitality.
Others already have done their investing.
Dean Corpas is putting the finishing touches on a $250,000 expansion of his Akron Family Restaurant on West Market, which is open for breakfast and lunch and won’t compete with Troppe’s restaurant for the dinner crowd.
Corpas, who doubled the dining room to seat 240 people and created additional parking, has owned the restaurant for 22 years. He decided to expand because "Akron has been good to us."
Vic Wlaszyn, president of the area Better Business Bureau, moved the agency to West Market about 12 years ago. The neighborhood was rough, "yet I knew from the very inception the area was going to change and we worked toward that," he said.
The BBB purchased two lots behind its building for potential expansion and is planning a facelift for its building. Those projects will total about $230,000.
The neighborhood projects are absolutely exciting, he said. "I think it’s going to turn this side of town around," Wlaszyn said. "We think this is going to add value to the properties around here and it’s going to turn a lot of the criminal element out of here."
But Wlaszyn and other business owners say the Courtesy Inn, which is next door to the BBB, has to clean up its act.
The crime levels in the area have significantly decreased, thanks to combined efforts by neighbors, businesses and police, but there are still drug and prostitution arrests at the motel, said Akron P olice Lt. Charles B rown, commander of the community relations / community policing division.
"We have made some arrests there recently, and we’ve worked with business neighbors there to respond to calls of service they’ve had," he said.
Akron police are working with the motel management to help solve the problem, Brown said.
"As of yet, they’ve been very approachable," he said.
Courtesy Inn owner and manager Chintan Patel said he has updated the outside of the motel , renovated some rooms and installed security cameras.
Patel said he doesn’t know if he’ll stay put. There have been no offers to purchase his business, but Patel said "if we get a good price," he may consider selling.
If an area meets certain criteria of slum and blight, a government can designate land as a renewal area, making it easier to assemble parcels for redevelopment. In some cases, that may be by eminent domain. Toward that end, the city of Akron created the Market Maple Urban Renewal Area in the West Market and Maple street area, said Akron Planning Director Warren Woolford.
However, there are no parcels the city would try to purchase at this time, he said.
Mike Van Devere, whose family has operated Van Devere Pontiac and Buick on West Market since 1970, said all of the changes around him are encouraging.
About three years ago, his business purchased the former Westside Lincoln Mercury dealership next door and spent "a significant investment" converting it to match the updated facade of its existing dealership.
Across the street from the dealership, Bennett Construction Management has been busy gutting the building that used to house the Marvin Interiors furniture store. Bill Bennett moved his commercial, industrial and institution construction company headquarters from Waterloo Road to the back portion of the building. He’s looking for a retail or office tenant for the front 5,000 square feet.
In all, Bennett said he will spend $550,000 between the purchase and renovations.
"I think this area is going in a good direction. I’m not opposed to putting further investment into it," he said. The changes in the neighborhood are all going to be beneficial to the city, Van Devere said.
Said Wlaszyn: "The stage is set for vast improvements on this end of town."
Troppe expressed confidence that the Snyders were onto something.
Their original plan "was premature. The marketplace wasn’t ready yet. But now there’s a promise of a bright future for this neighborhood," he said.
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