One of Akron’s newest urban living options opens its doors to visitors Saturday.
Cascade Lofts, an apartment building and gathering space in what was once a tire factory, will hold an open house from 5 to 9 p.m. as part of the monthly Akron Artwalk. The event will include entertainment, vendors offering handmade goods and a chance to tour some of the loft-style apartments.
Developer Tony Troppe created the complex from the old Swinehart Tire and Rubber Co. at North Howard and North streets, an area he calls NOHO. All but one of the 24 apartments have been rented, and construction continues on an event space and brewery-restaurant on the lower level.
The open house is intended as a celebration, he said. “This is an affirmation that people want to live downtown.”
The rehabilitated building has been outfitted for sustainable living, with features such as energy-saving LED lighting; triple-pane, argon-filled windows that can be opened for ventilation; Energy Star appliances and rain barrels to collect water from the roof. Raised-bed gardens outdoors will allow residents to grow their own food.
An inner shell was built inside the original clay tile exterior walls to accommodate generous insulation, and Troppe plans to add solar panels to the reflective roof. The building is heated and cooled by water-source heat pumps, which use water instead of air as the source of heat in winter and the means for removing it in summer.
For all its cutting-edge technology, though, the structure still retains its industrial character and honors its place in Akron history.
Divided-light windows were chosen because they’re appropriate to the era. A section of the interior wall was left raw to show the original tiles. Positioned around the property are stone blocks from the Ohio & Erie Canal’s Lock 3, now the site of a downtown park.
The apartments occupy two floors of the building and range from 750 to 1,650 square feet. They rent for $1,110 to $1,750 a month, said Dan Sarvis, who is in charge of leasing and management. One unit, called the Trail Stay, can be rented for short-term stays.
No two units are alike, but all have an urban edge. Ducts are suspended from ceilings, and original steel beams and posts are left exposed. Most of the units have the old maple floors, scarred by decades of hard use.
“It takes about 100 years of work to get it to look like this,” Sarvis said of the floors, “plus some rubber production.”
Troppe especially likes the building’s access to downtown and to the Cascade Locks and Towpath Trail just across the street. He and Sarvis envision the complex becoming a destination for bikers or walkers, who might stop for a beer or a meal at the building’s Lock 15 Brewing Co. or its outdoor beer garden.
The brewery is in the building’s walk-out lower level, giving it easy access to the towpath. Troppe said a pedestrian bridge is expected to span the Ohio and Erie Canal eventually, so trail users won’t even have to cross North Street to get there.
The brewery is targeted to open in May, he said. It will be owned and operated by Colin Cook, who manages Troppe’s BLU Jazz+ music club.
Adjacent to the brewery is Trailhead Eventspace, an entertainment center that will accommodate 200 or more for parties and could host other events such as an art exhibit or an electric car show. Raphael Vaccaro of Vaccaro’s Trattoria will cater events at the center, which is expected to open in January.
Troppe said the apartment building has attracted professors, technology workers and other members of the knowledge economy, many of whom have moved here from outside Akron or out of state.
“They’re finding us as an authentic Akron place to live,” he said.
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MBBreckABJ, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckABJ and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.
