There is a three-way trade in the works in Akron. The city, Summit County and Akron Public Schools are considering swapping half a dozen pieces of real estate to help redevelopment in the city.
The idea is to realign property uses so more people who work downtown can park there, an office building on the north end of downtown can be fully occupied, and 90 single-family homes can be built on school property no longer in use near downtown.
Mark Williamson is the spokesman for Akron Schools.
“There’s no exchange of money. It’s a simple transaction in that way. The county wins, the city gets what it needs, and then we -- because we’re going to move over to the Summa building at Main and Market and the parking doesn’t go with the building -- that’s a city owned piece of land,so we’re going to get that in the deal.”
The county and city councils and the Akron board of education all must approve the plan. Each of those bodies is expected to consider it in the next few weeks.
