We’ve worked hard to generate interest in our downtown and it’s working so well that now we’ve got some parking issues to handle until PARTA completes their new 350 space parking garage.

It’s fantastic that Mr. Burbick put the pedal to the metal and built new stores and shops in record time — but it’s left us with a little bit of gap before all of our parking resources are in place.  But as one of our local bank Presidents said last week, “that’s a great problem to have and it’s one that we can solve.”

It is a great problem and we will solve it.  We didn’t make all this investment in downtown to leave the new shop owners high and dry with customer parking — we’ve actually got a great comprehensive parking management plan that will be in full effect in March 2013 — the trouble is between then and now we’ve got to rebuild just about all the streets that have parking on them so the shop owners that jumped in downtown early are left wondering where does that leave their customers.

Fair question, and it’s a question that we’ve been working hard to have an equally fair answer.  We’ve got some answers and we’re working with the downtown shop owners to come up with some more, but even if everything goes super smooth, the next 12 months are going to require a little creativity by customers to hang in there with us and support their new favorite shops as we rebuild everything around them.

We’ve promised to ALWAYS maintain access to the shops.  That may mean a driving over a construction plate here and there but we’ll make sure that if there’s a shop you want to get to, you can, and while parking spots may shift around as the construction shifts around, there will always be parking in reasonably close proximity to the new shops.

As you’d expect the downtown shop owners and Kent City Council have put this issue at the top of our to do list, and even though it was already there, we’re putting in more time to come up with a bunch of contingency plans to carry us through the gap period.

The Parking Action Committee (downtown business owners, citizens, and staff) met last week to share schedules, concerns and ideas for parking options.  It’s a smart and motivated bunch of people who seem to me to be exactly what we need to work our through the challenges posed by the 12 month timing gap in parking.

This group has decided to meet more frequently in order to spend more time together (and to adjust to changing construction impacts) so that we can develop and more importantly implement a strategy to minimize the construction impacts on the new business along Erie Street during this year’s street reconstruction for Depeyster and Erie Streets.

One of the more significant outcomes from the last week’s discussions was noting that even when the streets are being re-built there is free parking nearby that could be used by customers, but unless you’re a regular in downtown shopping it’s not always easy to know where that parking is.  The Kent Chamber and others are going to help with that.

Over the next week or so we plan to put together an information and marketing campaign that will include signs, brochures, ads, etc., indicating that the businesses along Erie Street are open and pointing out where to find parking in the downtown.  There’s no shortage of ideas for how to get that word out there and we’re going to commit city dollars to make sure that happens.

After hearing concerns for the many employees that work downtown who take up key retail parking spots, Public Safety Director Bill Lillich and Chief Lee also met internally to discuss options to put an increased emphasis on enforcement of the 2 hour limits in downtown, including after 5 pm and on Saturdays, in order to keep the prime retail parking locations turning over for customers rather than employees.

This past week we also met with all of the contractors downtown and advised them that they if they are using any of the on-street parking spots they will have to find alternative parking effective Monday (February 6) with the changing of the Erie Street parking from permit parking to 2 hour parking only.

PARTA, KSU and Fairmount also all agreed to put off-site parking requirements in their contracts for any of the construction work to be done downtown.

These are great places to start but the key will be sustaining this focus for 12 months and making adjustments for all those unexpected surprises that construction tends to bring.  Most of all, we need patience and persistence from new customers.  Dont’ give up on your downtown; it’s a beautiful thing even when it’s in the midst of remodeling.

We’ve waited so long for new retail and restaurants to arrive and now that there here, they need your support.  Especially in the first couple of years which are notoriously challenging for any new business.

It makes sense — Kent has a number of buildings with genuine historic significance and architectural interest and the community doesn’t want to see those disappear.  Our heritage says something about who we are as a community, and as much as we want new investment and the jobs they bring, we don’t want to lose our roots and sense of place in history.

That’s why we adopted the tag line “the best of the old with the best of the new” for planning Kent’s downtown revitalization.

Progress for us wasn’t going to be defined by a bunch of shiny new buildings; it was going to be measured by how well we integrated new investment while honoring the investment that preceded it.  The last thing we wanted was a block of new buildings to look like they were air-lifted and dropped adjacent to the dowtown.

In hindsight, one of the best things we did was to invite the existing property owners in the downtown to join us around a table for 6-9 months to lay out a path for re-investment that worked in conjunction with and complemented the existing property base.  We learned from failed examples of downtown developments that literally turned their backs on Main Street and tried to do their own thing at the expense of the existing businesses.

We vowed to not let that happen and that’s in part the genesis of the Acorn Alley concept that physically connects Main Street and the older business district to all the new stuff that we’re building next to it.  That physical connection carries over into a shared parking, and a seamless use of sidewalks, street furniture, lighting and landscaping in a grid pattern that is meant to feel as it was all planned together despite the 50 year gap that separates the buildings construction.

Physical connection and complementary architecture is a prominent theme in Kent’s downtown revitalization — from the Kent State University campus esplanade extension to Acorn Alley and the renovation of Alley 3 (adjacent to Woodsy’s Music Shop) — our goal is to create synergy between the old and the new that makes them both better than ever.

Although the new construction is getting a lot of attention right now, it would be a mistake to overlook all the renovation work on older buildings that preceded it and has occurred right alongside it.  A walk down our two most prominent streets in the older business district, S. Water Street and Main Street, reveals building after building that have undergone a facelift in recent years.  Sue Nelson Designs, Franklin Square Deli, Water Street Tavern, Rays Place, the Arthur Properties, McKay Bricker Gallery (WW Reid building), City Bank Antiques, Fuller Design, the Phoenix Project…the list goes on and even around the block to include the Pufferbelly.

These are great examples of re-investment in some of the most important streetfront buildings that have come to represent Kent’s past, present and future.

To that end, the City has tried to promote property restoration and re-investment by offering grants and loans for facade improvements and architectural studies.  The City lent an employee and spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars to help Main Street Kent (and it’s historic preservation agenda) get off the ground and get a foot-hold in the downtown.   The City worked with the downtown property owners to come up with the re-development blueprint for downtown and we partnered to hire an architectural consultant to develop Kent’s first historic architectural design guidelines for properties in downtown Kent.   The City later integrated those historic guidelines into our City Code and created an Architectural Review Board to evaluate project plans in the downtown for conformance to the goals of the design guidelines.

On the heels of all these efforts to honor our historic heritage, we are planning to present a proposal to City Council this week (February 1) to become recognized by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office as a Certified Local Government.

Becoming a Certified Local Government has been on our radar screen for a 2-3 years.  It was something that we were gradually building the elements of and now we’d like to finish what we’ve started.  We believe that the CLG status is consistent with City Council’s commitment to historic preservation as it formalizes a process to preserve our historic resources, and we think now is the right time to get it put in place.

Pending the approval of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office for our CLG application, the passage of our draft Ordinance, and the designation of a historic district in our downtown we’re making a commitment to honor our heritage buildings and give the residents in our community a voice in the process for influencing the future of those historic properties (something that we did not have with the demolition of the Robin Hood last year).

We’ve already created the blueprint for historic preservation in our downtown with the passage of our downtown design guidelines and creation of the Architectural Review Board; obtaining the CLG status carries those efforts through to their natural conclusion with the official designation of an historic district and transitioning the Architectural Review Board from an advisory role to a regulatory role.

The CLG status also affords property owners within the designated historic district to be eligible to apply for historic grants and it enables them to take advantage of federal and state historic tax credits.  As we’ve seen, the greatest challenge for the preservation of our historic buildings downtown has not been the desire to restore them, but rather having the funds available to to perform the restoration.  We hope that the new potential revenues resulting from the CLG status will perhaps tip the scale economically to make the restoration efforts affordable for the property owners.

While we may want to expand the historic district in future years, we decided to start with a relatively small area where we knew property owners would most benefit from the availability of the new revenue sources.  The district can be expanded, reduced, or even eliminated, in future years by Council resolution — so there is flexibility in the historic designation which we thought was important given the regulatory nature of this new program.

There are many cities in Ohio and in our region that have obtained the CLG status from the state and they have found the historic designation an effective way to honor their architectural heritage, e.g., Hudson, Aurora, Alliance, Barberton, Berea, Green, Loraine, Medina.  We have talked with a number of these cities, we’ve talked with the staff at the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, and we’ve talked with some of the property owners in Kent as part of our due diligence before recommending taking this final action.

When we make regulatory changes like this, we typically work intentionally slow and methodical in order to solicit a lot of community feedback as we work to devleop the best proposal possible for City Council consideration.  Ideally, we would have preferred a 2-3 month process to work through all the small details of the Ordinance but it was brought to our attention that the next cycle of historic grants and tax credits is upon us and property owners have until March 31 to get their applications in for the state or they would have to wait potentially until 2013 before investing in any renovation work — and that includes the old hotel.

After waiting 20+ years to get that old hotel under renovation we felt it was critical to not hold up the old hotel renovation by another year, so rather than trying to get our CLG program perfect from the start, we’ve taken a different approach to create the basic outline of the CLG, build some flexibility into the program so it can be refined through the lessons of experience with it, and get it approved now so that the property owners within the district could seek the funds this year.

The Ohio Historic Preservation Office (OHPO) has already given us some feedback on our proposed CLG application and their feedback was positive.  There are multiple state reviews that have to occur so there are no guarantees for approaval at this point, but the OHPO staff have indicated we’re off to a good start and they offered to do whatever they can to help us get through the state review process as quickly as possible in order to support the proposed old hotel renovation, as well as other projects that may arise in the district.

From the start of our downtown revitalization efforts, we stated publicly that our success depended upon our ability to integrate the best of the old with the best of the new — I’m proud with what we’ve achieved in integrating new investment and new buildings into our downtown, now we think it’s time to finish what we started and formalize the preservation of Kent’s historic resources in the downtown through the Certified Local Government and historic district designation.

The trendy new coffee shop doesn’t disappoint, combining funky decor (love the arty fire place), including fully equipped wi fi seating, with great options of organic,  free trade ground beans for a long list of your favorite flavored coffee.

In a unique twist, Tree City has built in a drive thru along the west edge of the building that gives commuters a chance to not miss their morning cup of Joe.

Please help support this new locally owned shop.

Here’s a little more information off their Facebook site.

So make a Friday lunch date and support Kent’s newest family owned and operated business located in at the corner of Erie Street and Depeyster Street in the heart of downtown Kent.

I realize it’s a bit confusing with all the construction going on downtown but just head to the new corner building in Mr. Burbick’s Acorn Alley project and you can’t miss it.

Parking is available up and down Erie Street and around the block.

Laziza’s is a mediterranean  based cuisine that offers a tasty range of alternatives for palattes that are looking for a little more ethnic flavors.

It’s exciting to see another new place open up.  Help us support it.

I’m pleased to report that we placed 3rd overall in the best project category – a very worthy validation for our project, but candidly, not the first place that we were hoping for. 

It’s not like there’s some big cash award for first place, or tax free status in the State of Ohio for a year prize; it’s just the recognition for a job well done that we thought the Kent project deserved. 

Being the competitive sort that we are, the first reaction to 3rd was a bit of a let down, but looking closer at the results it turns out that we took 3rd behind a couple of really big and really good economic development projects so 3rd started looking more impressive with each passing day. 

After a couple of weeks of mounting pride, we started feeling so good about third that Dan decided it was time to share the press release that you’ll find below with the local media. 

So here’s to 3rd place, nice job Kent! 
(for the record we’re already planning on re-submitting next year with our eyes on the top seat).

————————————-
Press Release By Dan Smith, Kent City Economic Development Director

Daniel D. Smith, Economic Development Director
City of Kent
215 East Summit Street
Kent, OH 44240
(330) 676-7582

—————————-

Thanks to my various positions in city government in Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio, I’ve had a chance to meet maybe a half dozen governors during my tenure.  Regardless of their political persuasions, I’m almost always impressed by how well these seasoned politico’s work a room and a crowd — and Governor Kasich was no exception. 

Governors that are really good at their job have that unique ability to reel you in with their speeches and help you forget wherever your political allegiance lies, sweeping you up in their messages.   

Each time I’ve seen Governor Kasich speak I walked away thinking that he genuinely believes in his message, he wants the best for Ohio, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to do that.  Its the doing that gets tricky and I don’t envy any governor who is pushing a platform of change.  State politics can be a full contact sport. 

But last Tuesday Governor Kasich got to step out of the fray for a couple of hours and turn the spotlight on Kent’s newest corporate resident, Mac Trailer — thanking them for choosing Ohio (and particularly choosing Kent) to expand their business.  

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be expected to say any welcoming remarks before the Governor took the stage so I prepared a few comments and showed up ready if they needed me.  It turned out that I didn’t need to speak at the podium but I hate to waste a speech, so for anyone who gives a hoot, here’s what I would have said:

I want to thank everyone for being in Kent with us this morning. 

The City staff is turning into regulars here at Mac Trailer – we’re here so much they’re thinking of issuing us company Id cards.  

We helped Mac Trailer celebrate their first days in Kent, celebrate their first hires, celebrate the first truck to come off the Kent production line and now we’re here again to celebrate their official grand opening. 

Some might argue that we just can’t turn down free food and ribbon cuttings — and I won’t say those folks are wrong, but the truth is we are extremely proud that Mac Trailer chose Kent to call home and we can’t think of any better way to thank them than to keep showing up to support them whenever they ask. 

We’re happy to shamelessly promote Mac Trailer because of their leadership in the market and because it’s a great example of rallying around a great company to help close the deal.

We knew that Mac Trailer was a great fit for Kent from the start:  the facility was exactly what they needed; their corporate leadership and employee base was a great match for Kent; and the location offered a great position in their market.

That’s why we reached out to them early on and went after them at full throttle. 

Like so many things in life, the art of the deal (and the devil) is in the details.   Our Economic Development Director, Dan Smith, just makes this look easy but landing Mac Trailer took fast action and collaboration — neither of which state and city agencies are historically known for — which is why we take such great pride in proving what we’re capable of as a City and a State. 

This Mac Trailer project was starting hit its stride early on in Governor’s Kasich term so we were not sure what to expect or even who to contact with the administrative transition. 

The good news was, all it took was one call to get the State ODOD wheels turning.

In an extremely short turn around time we had City Council and State ODOD commitments to partner in the financial package that we knew gave Mac Trailer what they needed to pull the trigger. 

City Council and the State of Ohio delivered, the deal was done, and here we are celebrating 250 new jobs. 

As the City Manager I lead the business of city government, and for the most part I get to stay outside the politics of whether you have a D or an R on your jersey.

I know that there are lots of pressures on governors to honor their home team but in the case of Mac Trailer I have to say that it was refreshing to see that the only thing that mattered was Team Kent and Mac Trailer.  

I don’t know all of Governor Kasich’s policy positions but I do know that we share a passion to prove that government can be nimble, responsive and innovative when it comes to supporting companies who want to create new jobs. 

Governor Kasich had just traveled up from Cincinnati, and despite the fact that we like to refer to Cleveland and Akron as suburbs of Kent, I realize that Kent is certainly smaller in proportion to these other cities but when it comes to jobs we are no less significant. 

We’re proud of our region, and we’re proud to do our part in Kent to spur an economic recovery.

The bottom line is every job counts so I’ll tell this Governor the same thing we told his predecessor – Put Kent To Work for Ohio. 

We’ve got great assets here – mine them, leverage them, exand them:   Kent State University, Davey Tree, Smithers Oasis, Ametek Corporation, Alpha Micron, Kent Displays

These diverse Kent businesses share 2 things:  1)they are leaders in their respective industries; and 2) they call Kent home.

I’m delighted to be able to add Mac Trailer to that list.

Thank you.

__________________________________

I was asked during the lunch how it was that Kent has been lucky enough to land some great economic developmnet projects of late and in 30 seconds or less I explained that our City Council and the staff are committed to being a part of the solution, making strategic investments, and tackling tough issues head on. 

Sounds like a bit simplistic but it’s a fair summary of what it takes for cities to beat the odds in a dismal economy.  That and great partners like the State ODOD.

Clearly, in and out needs a lot of work.  Assuming the building passes the structurally sound test (which it appears that it has), it’s no small step from there to a functional and relevant building in a modern sense — those little things like working plumbing and an elevator might matter to future tenants.

Like a lot of things, if it was easy someone would have already done it, but just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible.  One architect pointed out that lots of things are improbable when it comes to conventional restoration of the old hotel — which is why it sat like it has for so many years — but it’s not impossible as Mr. Burbick intends to prove.

We’ve all seen what falls off of Mr. Burbick’s dreaming tree — little Acorn Alley 1 and Acorn Alley 2.  The question is can Ron pull another acorn out of his hat? 

That’s what we wrestled with as a City — we didn’t want to set Ron, or anyone else for that matter, up to fail with a Herculean task that exceeded our oversized aspirations.  

However, at the end of the day, with a lot of help from friends, we came to the conclusion that restoring the old hotel is possible, however impractical it may appear.  Part of that confidence comes from watching how the little town of Galion Ohio took their own dilapitated hometown hotel and brought it back to life. 

Believe it or not, the Galion hotel was actually in worse shape, and yet it turned out great.  If they can do it, why not Kent? 

Here’s a little pictoral comparison of the Kent and Galion hotels.  Notice how much worse the exterior of the Galion hotel was — large chunks of the building were missing and the roof had even more holes than the floors.  And on the interior, the Kent Hotel walls and doors and etc. have already been excavated and removed whereas Galion’s hotel was a maze of junk.  Also, the columns in Kent’s hotel are larger and appear to be in comparatively better shape.

All of which leads us to cling to the hope that salvaging this building is a cause worth supporting. 

If you’re interested, I’ve provided a link to a powerpoint that outlines the Galion Hotel project:   Galion Ohio PowerPoint Story

With a story that is 30 years in the making, we knew there’d be a lot of local interest to see what’s behind those boarded up windows and brick walls, which is why we invited the media to go behind the curtain and join the members of City Council last week to walk thru the building.  

Old Hotel Walk Thru (image courtesy of Kent Patch)

The building and media didn’t disappoint.  Curiousity drew a hearty crowd of media journalists, photographers and videographers — and the old hotel stayed in the headlines for about a week.  The story even got picked up by some of the larger news search engines and I ended up getting comments from friends as far away as Virginia that congratulated Kent on moving forward with the old hotel (and suggested that I will never make facemasks a fashion statement). 

For those that couldn’t join us, or had not come across the KentPatch video of the building walk thru (complements of Matt Fredmonsky), here’s your chance to get an inside peek:  Old Hotel Tour Video Link

Standing in the building, stepping around holes in the floor, and seeing how the weight of some 90 years had caused many of the concrete floors to bow, it was evident that renovation of this building would not be for the faint of heart, with weak convictions, inexperience – or shallow pockets. 

Which is why Mr. Burbick’s proposal to purchase the building from the City was such a welcomed offer.  With a project as challenging as the renovation will prove to be, success is going to depend on the perfect fit between the owner and the community. 

I have no doubt that this project will test Mr. Burbick’s patience like nothing else he’s done yet (and that says a lot because he’s done a lot) but being the astute person that he is, he already gets it, and he’s busy inviting the community to join him in resurrecting this structure. 

It’s going to take a village to restore this building and Ron has put a call out to all of the villagers that have something to offer to help him return this building to its proper prominent place in downtown Kent.  There’s a reason the building has been for sale for years – facing such large costs of restoration this building is going to be hard pressed to ever yield a business return on investment. 

Ron is a successful business man, and he’s run the math too — which is why he’s not trying to pursue this as a profitable enterprise in the traditional business sense.  He’s willing to take this project on as a community give-back; as a way of stepping in to fill a longtime need that if not met soon, would probably result in the loss of a significant local historic structure whose useful life has nearly run its course.   

Ron’s committed to not making a penny of profit off this likely $4 million investment.  After paying the bills, all proceeds will go into local community foundations and non-profit agencies in Kent and Portage County.  That’s a gift that will keep on giving for decades to come. 

The old hotel building is too important to Kent and Kent’s past, to not be part of it’s future — and that’s where Ron comes in.  He wants to carry the torch but just like those Olympians, Ron needs some fellow torch-bearers. 

Ron has already spent close to $15 million of his own retirement funds to redevelop downtown Kent and now he needs a little help from the community to finish what he started. 

There’s no limits on the help he needs, from investors to brick masons and plumbers and contractors. 

If you can help, you can reach Mr. Burbick through Main Street Kent at (330)677-8000.

Rendering of the New KSU Hotel

2007 Picture of the Old Hotel

The good news is that the building was purchased by the City last week, and now, for the first time in 30 years we’re in a position to perhaps change the fate of this historic landmark and restore it’s faded glory. 

As the picture suggests, that will be easier said than done.  The building is showing its age, both inside and out, and it will take a lot more than a little TLC to get it back in shape — but with all the good things that are going on downtown, I can’t think of a better time at trying to attract investment interest in the building than right now. 

The City didn’t buy the building to get in the real estate business or to flip the property for a profit.  Our goal is to find a buyer who shares our vision for what the building could be, and happens to have the capacity and financial wherewithal to take this challenge and write a happy ending to this story.  The building deserves it. 

We’re already about 20 years behind schedule so the sooner we can bring a credible investor to the table the better, and I hope to have a workable sale no later than the end of the year.   It’s no small challenge and everyone will have their due diligence to do but I still think it’s reasonable to set an aggressive schedule and go after it full speed ahead in order to make up for all the years of lost time. 

Stay tuned.    

Ron has proven that if you build it, they will come.  As fast he builds new buildings, he’s had waiting lists for businesses that want a chance to chase their dreams in them. 

Ron builds’em, dreamy shop owners open’em, and now it’s up to all of us to shop’em.  

So in case you hadn’t heard there’s a new shop in town — the Wild Earth Outfitters.  It’s the first shop to open in Acorn Alley Phase II, and because there’s construction going on all around it, it would be easy to not even notice the neon Open sign in the window — but the products in that store are too good to just sit on the shelf, so get down to Erie Street and do your part to support a new locally owned store.

What products do they sell?  With names like NorthFace, Mountain Hard Wear, Granite Gear, and Columbia they’ve got your outdoor gear covered.  From hiking to camping and everything in between this is a store that can’t be missed. 

Seriously, I could max out my credit card in this place.