AKRON, Ohio — A $37 million plan to put 115 market-rate apartments in the heart of downtown Akron is on ice. Physical renovation work at the CitiCenter building has halted just weeks after a ceremonial kickoff, as developer Don Taylor of Welty Enterprises objects to two housing charter amendments on Akron’s Nov. 3 ballot.
Taylor told the Beacon Journal on Oct. 6 that planning continues but the hammers have stopped. The amendments were placed on the ballot by nonprofit Freedom BLOC with volunteers from the Akron NAACP, the Greater Akron Fellowship of Clergy, tenant leaders and housing advocates, and would reshape how landlords screen tenants and collect security deposits.
At issue: security-deposit application fees, the option to pay a deposit over six months, and whether criminal history can be considered in renter screening. Proposed Issue 11 would require landlords to offer three- or six-month deposit installment plans — and would make it a felony to fail to notify tenants of that right.
Taylor says damage done before a full deposit is collected would exceed what’s been paid, and he fears personal felony exposure if a staffer forgets the required notification. Mayor Shammas Malik this week also came out against the amendments, saying they would create more problems than they would solve.
For now, one of downtown Akron’s most-watched projects sits quiet while voters decide the fate of the housing measures.