CUYAHOGA FALLS: The talking is done.
After three years of research, a dozen community meetings and a road trip through the Midwest, Cuyahoga Falls officials say it’s time to break ground on a nearly $10 million project that will return two-way traffic to the struggling Front Street pedestrian mall.
While City Council will not officially vote until Monday, council members and about 100 residents who attended a final review of the project Monday appeared universally in favor of legislation that will grant a contract to the design-build team of Akron-based H.R. Gray and Hammontree & Associates.
The ambitious construction schedule calls for work on the north end of Front to begin April 3, with the entire project wrapping up by New Year’s Eve. That also includes turning one-way Second Street into a two-way street.
The clock tower will be preserved; the street will divide to go around it. Existing fountains will be saved or rebuilt. The plaza and amphitheater will remain on the east side of the road.
Officials also reassured festival lovers that the street can be closed on summer weekends to make room for the many annual events that have taken root there.
In the design-build concept, the city provides 40 percent of the design plans. Gray and Hammontree, selected from among five bidders, will handle the rest of the engineering and architectural duties.
Planning Director Fred Guerra noted that Gray’s proposal to complete the project in nine months was “five to six months quicker than anyone else.”
The makeover will cost $9.89 million — more than $1 million less than previous estimations.
“It’s taken 40 years to get to this chapter of resurrecting our downtown,” Mayor Don Walters said.
Cuyahoga Falls banned traffic to create the pedestrian mall in 1978. Hundreds of cities across the country attempted the maneuver to win back consumers that were favoring the then-new shopping mall movement.
But pedestrian malls turned out to be a fad, and even most indoor malls have been struggling. Modern consumers now look favorably on traditional downtowns where they can park within sight of their destination, said consultant Robert Gibbs of Gibbs Planning Group.
Especially in cold-winter climates, people tend to avoid retail areas that require them to park in a deck and walk a block or more to reach a store.
While this latest effort to return Front Street to its historic downtown footprint began in 2014, it’s an old idea. Just seven years after the pedestrian mall opened, local planners were already suggesting it be removed.
“It’s time to make this a reality,” Walters said.
Guerra said the city “didn’t really have a choice” if it wanted to generate new interest in Front Street.
He showed photos of historic Front Street with cars lining the street and parades marching through downtown. Then he showed images of the modern mall on typical business days with not a human being in sight.
Traffic studies have counted more than 100,000 cars traveling daily within a block or two of Front Street, including Portage Trail, Broad Boulevard and state Route 8.
The fact that motorists aren’t making their way to Front “tells us there’s a problem,” Guerra said.
Gibbs said Cuyahoga Falls has the opportunity for a “highly unusual, highly desirable” business district, combining historic architecture with a modern street and the rolling Cuyahoga River running the length of it.
He also called for patience. Retailers won’t necessarily be lined up in January when the street opens to traffic, “but they will find you,” he said.
Brent VanFossen, owner of Metropolis Popcorn in the center of the mall, said he was on the verge of relocating. Customers always had concerns on where to park, and he didn’t like having to answer their questions about what else there was to do on Front Street with “not a lot.”
When he learned the street was reopening, he decided to stay and “be part of the transformation.”
Coinciding with this project, the city will spend $3.75 million to renovate the three parking decks that serve the Front Street area, including repairing elevators and installing a street-level board that tells motorists how many spaces are available in each deck.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.