Council OKs finish for streetscape sidewalks

Crews will complete the final stretch of sidewalk this year in the city of Lorain’s Broadway Streetscape project, according to city plans.

A contractor will finish building the concrete walkways in front of 610 Broadway, according to Lorain City Council action March 23.

It will be the final section for the streetscape, the $4 million reconstruction plan that put new sidewalks, signs, lights and traffic patterns from 10th Street to West Erie Avenue in downtown Lorain.

The Council action authorizes the city law director to deposit $300 at Lorain County Probate Court for the value of the property.

Law Director Pat Riley also is authorized to file a court action to appropriate the property as needed.

Riley said he did not anticipate the court action would happen immediately based on the Council

action.

The building is owned by Lorain developer Gary Davis, who was not available for comment.

The delay in streetscape construction happened starting in summer 2019.

Contractors working on the project discovered the underground parking area of the Gardens of Charleston condominiums extended beneath the old sidewalks on Broadway, Lorain City Engineer Dale Vandersommen said previously.

The city and structural engineering firm DLZ created a plan to fill in the underground area, although it would result in loss of some underground parking spaces and some storage area, Vandersommen said.

Since then, the sidewalk area in front of the building has been barricaded with warning signs to keep people from walking there.

The area remains unpaved.

Council action approved a temporary easement for additional construction.

The plan is to build a poured concrete wall that lines up with the face of the building. The open space in front of the building will be filled with mortar and the sidewalk will be constructed on top of that, Vandersommen said.

Gardens of Charleston building was not the only one with an underground space, or vault, that extended beneath the sidewalks of Broadway.

In February 2019, contractor Karvo Companies, of Stow, began construction with crews digging up and filling in the underground vaults of several buildings on Broadway.

The Charleston building is a complex with multiple spaces and frontage on Broadway and West Sixth Street.

So far, the additional work has not caused a closure for Brew & Stew, the breakfast and lunch cafe inside the former Charleston Coffee House, 630 Broadway.

The condominiums sit behind and above the restaurant space with entrances from Broadway and through an interior courtyard with the door on West Sixth Street.