Hospitals in on joint venture for downtown facility
By Stephanie Kist
DOWNTOWN AKRON — On Jan. 8, Mayor Don Plusquellic announced plans for a $30 million development that will restore the historic 1929 Main Post Office and include construction of a new building, which likely will be a long-term acute- care (LTAC) facility that will jointly serve Akron General Medical Center and Summa Health System.
“This fits perfectly into
our planning for the Akron
Biomedical Corridor,” Plusquellic said. “Not
only does this project demonstrate a continued level
of cooperation between
our major hospital systems, but the development will
create new jobs, preserve existing jobs and save one
of the city’s landmark structures.”
Plusquellic said at the press
conference announcing the project that the facility
will help avoid duplication of services that might have
occurred had the hospitals not joined forces.
Akron Legacy Real Estate Development
acquired the former post office at 168 E. Market St.
for $1.2 million and plans to complete an $8 million
rehabilitation of the building by the end of this year.
Legacy has entered into a
lease with Summa Health System,
which will use all 60,000 square feet of the building
for offices that eventually will house 200 employees.
Legacy also will buy an additional
4.9 acres of city-owned land — site of the former
Taylor Pontiac — for $1.3 million at Market and
Prospect streets for the project.
The Akron Planning Commission
will be asked tomorrow, Jan. 12, to approve conditional
zoning of the project, along with the transfer of the
city land to the Legacy
group. Akron City Council could then be asked to approve
it as early as Jan. 22.
The city also proposes vacating
South Prospect Street to make room for a 370-car parking
lot.
Phase II calls for construction
of the LTAC on the 4.9 acres that will employ approximately
170 people — 100 existing jobs and 70 new jobs.
An LTAC serves patients who require
at least a 25-day stay in an acute-care hospital prior
to transitioning to a skilled nursing
home.
Legacy is in discussions with
Wojno Development, of Akron, with respect to Phase II,
which is expected to cost $19 million. Construction
should begin this year and be completed in 2008.
The LTAC likely will be operated
by a private company. Speaking for Legacy, William Ginter
stressed that terms of the LTAC paperwork are near completion,
and information about the owner and operator of the
LTAC will be released at a later
time.
Akron originally acquired the
4.9 acres and demolished existing structures at a cost
of $2.5 million for the planned relocation of METRO’s
transfer center, which is now destined for South Broadway.
Plusquellic said it long has
been common practice for the city to acquire and rehabilitate
land and resell it, often for less than what the city
paid for it, in a business deal meant to bring more
jobs downtown. Otherwise, those properties,
if not reasonably priced, might
not lure buyers and continue to be vacant.
In this case, many LTAC facilities
in other locations are being built in suburban areas,
he said.
“A lot of these facilities
have moved to the suburbs,” he said. “We
think it’s convenient for our residents; we think
its convenient for the hospital medical personnel who
need to visit the facility; we think it’s good
for the employment base that it provides us, and so
there are any number of reasons that this is a good
site for, I guess I’d say, everyone involved.”
The city will use Tax Increment
Financing to pay all city expenses.
The postal building was listed
on the National Register of Historic Properties in 1983
and until recently housed Charles Mayer Studios, which
will relocate into a building it already owns, according
to city officials.
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