Merchants to convene for streetscape meeting

Downtown merchants will get another chance to sound off on the proposed Broadway streetscape project for Lorain.

Developer Gary Davis is inviting downtown business and property owners to a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Charleston Banquet Facility, 630 Broadway.

“We are holding this get-together in order to organize a business district association that could collectively support or combat issues posed in the city of Lorain’s entertainment district,” his invitation letter said.

“We also feel it is extremely important for us to get to know one another here in downtown

Lorain,” Davis said.

The meeting is not necessarily to organize opposition to the project, said Luke Theall, property manager for Davis.

“We’re not doing this because we’re opposed to it,” Theall said.

However, the project costs are not realistic for businesses that are dying on Broadway, he said.

Business and property owners need to work together, and soon, to figure out if the project is necessary and, if so, a way to pay for it, Theall said.

The way the street looks may not be the main thing keeping people from visiting downtown, Theall said. Broadway has a few destination businesses, but all the local merchants suffer when traffic slows down in winter, he said.

In a May 13 report to Council, Mayor Chase Ritenauer suggested the city could refinance existing loans and borrow money to help pay for the Broadway streetscape. Exact details on that plan are not final yet.

For months, the city of Lorain administration, Council and residents have pondered a new Broadway streetscape.

The Feb. 24 meeting stems from documents prepared for City Council about the project costs to property owners.

The streetscape plan would widen the sidewalks, narrow the traffic lanes and add features such as more lights and traffic islands to downtown Lorain. The improvements could be built this summer when the Ohio Department of Transportation oversees resurfacing of Broadway.

In 2015, drawings of the streetscape generally found favorable reviews.

This winter, however, property owners came out to a City Council committee meeting to speak out against proposed costs.

The project is estimated to cost about $3.69 million; property owners would be on the hook for about $2.35 million of that amount, according to the city figures.

Based on the parcels and street frontage, that works out to about $553.58 per foot — or $13,839.42 per 25 feet of frontage, according to the city figures.

The Gardens of Charleston is a condominium complex that Davis owns. His building has frontage on Broadway and West Sixth Street.

The building has three units that sit on Broadway, Theall said.

But the city assessments charged each unit within the Gardens, he said.