Stow Initiates Plans for Entertainment District
Norton Rd. Plaza to Get New Life with Restaurants, Amphitheater
Stow residents will soon get what they’ve long wanted, and it started with a trip to Ace Hardware.
The city is partnering with a Canton developer to create an entertainment district at the Stow-Hudson border that will include a 2,500-seat amphitheater and possibly a DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) encompassing part of the plaza on Norton Rd. and plazas directly South of Fishcreek Rd. on either side of Darrow Rd.
Giltz & Associates Inc., of Canton, signed a deal this week to acquire the larger 51,000-sq.-ft. Norton Rd. plaza building on 5.54 acres and a vacant 2.48-acre lot from Stow Hudson Investment Co., the current owner of the whole plaza. Stow Hudson Investment will retain the smaller 38,000-sq.-ft. building on 4.67 acres, along with a 0.86-acre vacant lot also fronting Norton Rd., next to Double Shot Coffee. The deal followed a vote at the Sept. 26 City Council meeting to approve a request by Stow Hudson Investment Co. to have the property split into four parcels.
On Thursday, Oct. 10, City Council unanimously passed legislation to acquire the 2.48-acre parcel of land for $1.375 million along Norton Rd. from Giltz, which the city plans to use for the proposed amphitheater.
Giltz will work to bring in local restaurants to the 5.54-acre plaza area across the parking lot.
The idea for redeveloping the Norton Rd. plaza into an entertainment district came to Stow Mayor John Pribonic one weekend last April. As he was headed to an Ace Hardware in Canton, while helping his daughter fix up her house, something caught his eye. The distressed Oakwood Square retail plaza in Plain Twp. that he’d passed many times in the last four years had been completely renovated. Seven new restaurants, mostly local establishments and several with outdoor patio seating, filled the long-empty storefronts. And, there was something else.
The once-empty 2.5-acre plot of land in front of the plaza had been turned into a beautiful amphitheater with a large, covered stage, gently sloping grassy area for lawn chairs, and a concrete patio area along the back with built-in firepits for additional seating.
Pribonic couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“It had been the sorriest strip plaza I’d seen in my whole life,” he recounted in an interview. As he looked around the whole site, he got excited to share his find and his idea. That Monday morning, he walked into Law Director Drew Reilly’s office and told him they needed to take a field trip that week.
“We can do this on Norton Rd.,” he said.
Reilly, accustomed to hearing ideas that never seemed to get out of the planning stages, said he thought to himself: “Oh, great idea! I’ll put it in my hopes and dreams file.”
But Pribonic was determined, Reilly recounted. Pribonic appeared in Reilly’s office again three hours later and said “$3 million. That’s how much it cost to build the amphitheater.”
Pribonic, Reilly and Deputy Law Director Steve Hooten, took the trip down to Plain Twp. a few days later. He later invited City Council President Cyle Feldman to see the site, as well as others. And, there were more trips by Pribonic to further check out the area as construction began on a concession stand. He spoke with construction workers about the project and then, one day, the developer was there.
He spoke to Grant Giltz of Giltz & Associates, the development firm that refurbished the plaza. A meeting was set up with officials from Stow, Plain Twp. and Giltz & Associates to find out if what had been done there could be replicated in Stow. The key, Pribonic said, would be whether the developer could bring in local restaurants to expand dining options for Stow residents.
“They came to Stow, looked at the property and they could see the vision,” Pribonic said. The opportunity presented itself, he said, because space at the plaza that had housed a former Apples grocery store was for sale.
“That opened the door for the developer to make an offer for the whole building,” Pribonic said.
How the City will Fund its Plan
The city plans to pay for the land and amphitheater development with the proceeds of the sale of its cell tower leases, which City Council approved unanimously at its Sept. 26 meeting. Reilly said the administration has estimated the total cost of the land and amphitheater at $4.5-$5 million.
Pribonic said the five cell towers situated on city property have generated $300,000 per year in lease payments. Shortly after the city started discussing the Norton Rd. project, Planning Director Zach Cowan came into the mayor’s office with an offer. A private investor was willing to buy out the leasing agreements for the cell towers for $5 million.
“I told Zach that if we could get $5.5 million, we’d take the deal,” Pribonic said. Cowan negotiated the deal up to $6 million, in $1.2 million payments over the next five years.
“We felt the timing was right and the reason was right to make that deal,” Pribonic explained. “Five and half years ago, we got an offer to sell it for $1.5 million. With us getting $300K per year, it wasn’t worth it then. But, the way technology is going, how fast new things come along, we felt the days might be numbered for cell tower leases and that this was a great offer, at a time when we knew how we could spend the money in a way that would have great benefit to the City of Stow.”
City officials also met with U.S. Congressional Representative Emilia Sykes and State Representative Casey Weinstein to find out whether there could be any federal or state grants available for the project.
Reilly said the project checks off a lot of boxes relative to the kinds of things for which federal and state grants are made available.
“We need small restaurants, we don’t have a downtown, and we don’t have an amphitheater,” he said.
Many details remain to be worked out, including whether the city can get the official designation of a DORA for that area at this time. But, that won’t prevent the project from moving forward, Pribonic said. The key is the restaurants.
Why Norton Rd. was Chosen for this Project
Pribonic said the difficulty in getting restaurants to move into Stow in part has to do with its population size, but also the lack of available real estate.
National owners of plazas, like the ones along Kent Road, won’t consider small, locally-owned establishments, he said, because they want the stability of large chains that can sign long-term leases.
And, restaurant chains typically look for communities greater than 35,000 residents to support their businesses, unless you can make it a destination, Pribonic said. Stow is slightly under that, at 34,000 residents.
Plain Twp. has a population of 52,000, slightly bigger than Cuyahoga Falls. But, the Norton Rd. location has four things that Plain Twp. does not, Pribonic said, that makes it an appealing location for a big investment in restaurants and entertainment:
Hudson is right across the street, with its 22,000 residents.
There are four fast-food restaurants nearby along Darrow Rd. that already generate traffic among Stow families.
The Norton Rd. plaza butts up to two high-traffic roads, Rt. 91 and Fishcreek Rd., and is just down the road from the Seasons Rd. exit on Rt. 8.
The Summit MetroParks Bike & Hike Trail runs between Fishcreek Rd. and the plaza, providing another access option for Stow residents.
Pribonic and Reilly said they’ve already met with the facilities manager for Summit County MetroParks to see if it was possible to build two spurs off the bike trail to enable bikers and walkers to have direct access to the Norton Rd. plaza and the plaza across the street where the Spicy Sombrero is situated.
“We prepared drawings and discussion points for what we thought would be a one-hour meeting to discuss the idea with them,” Reilly said. “In reality, we could have done the meeting in five minutes. They understood exactly what we wanted to do.”
“Summit County MetroParks is trying to drive additional use of their trails, so as far as they’re concerned, if we build it, they’ll maintain it," Reilly said.
Additionally, once the Rt. 91 reconstruction project is complete, Darrow Road will have sidewalks on both sides of the street from Munroe Falls to the Hudson border, making the Norton Rd. plaza and amphitheater even more accessible to nearby neighborhoods.
The combination of an amphitheater that can host frequent concerts and events, significant drive-through traffic on Rt. 91, highway access and the bike trail, sets up that area as a destination location, similar to the retail areas of Fairlawn, Pribonic said, making it attractive to prospective restaurants.
“Giltz (the developer) knows exactly what we’re looking for in terms of the kinds of restaurants to bring in,” he said.
The project also has interested supermarket chain Giant Eagle, whose Norton Rd. store sits next to the project site.
“They’ve been wanting to turn that store into a Market District for some time,” Pribonic said. “After we told them about this project, they said they’d move up their timeline on that project. And, they’re plan is to have an area with outside seating.”
Pribonic said he and Reilly met with each of the council members individually to lay out details of the plan to ensure easy passage of the land sale.
“This was the first time in my nine years as mayor that every council person said they were on board right from the start,” he said.
Stow City Council President Cyle Feldman emphasized the significance of this project.
"This was an important piece of legislation to pass that could be transformational in serving the Stow community," he said in a request for comment. "This not only will spur other economic development, but it checks the box for dining and entertainment, two dire needs that I hear from residents."
"This developer understands the impact that this purchase will have, and it is imperative to have a good partner in this public/private partnership," Feldman said.
The city issued a press release shortly after noon on Friday, Oct. 11, announcing the project.
The city has already met with SoL Harris/Day Architecture of North Canton, which designed the Plain Twp. project, to discuss potential designs of the amphitheater. Once the city gets a design, it will send out an RFQ for construction bids.
If all goes to plan, groundbreaking will be next Spring.
“This is a great investment in our community that will pay us back,” Pribonic said.
OTHER CITY NEWS
City Council to Discuss Capital Improvement Plan at Oct. 14 Meeting
City Council has set a special meeting for Monday, Oct. 14, to review the administration's capital improvements requests for the 2025 budget and its 5-year capital improvement plan.
The meeting, which will begin at 6 pm in Council Chambers at City Hall, is open to Stow residents and will be livestreamed from the city's website (look for Committee of the Whole - Capital Improvement Planning under Upcoming Events on the City Council page).
Of the $14.3 million requested for 2025 in capital improvements, more than $4.35 million would be spent on road and sidewalk repairs, while $4 million would be spent on the replacement of traffic signals on Kent Rd. and the start of reconstruction of Rt. 91. The various road and sidewalk projects would comprise 61% of the city's capital improvement projects in 2025.
The city has provided information about its capital improvement plans here:
School Construction Levy the Topic of Oct. 15 Stow Sunshine Project Meeting
Stow-Munroe Falls School District leaders will give a presentation and answer questions about an 8.89-mill school construction bond levy that will be on the Nov. 5 ballot at the Oct. 15 Stow Sunshine Project meeting.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 pm at City Hall in City Council Chambers.
School district representatives who will be making the presentation include:
-Dr. Felisha Gould (Superintendent)
-Patrick Goclano (Treasurer)
-Kristen Prough (Assistant Superintendent/ Director of Special Services)
-Mark Treen (Director of Business Operations)
The school bond levy would raise $238 million and the project would qualify for a 27% future credit from the state once it is complete. The plan calls for the construction of four new elementary schools to replace all existing elementary school buildings, and a new junior high. See additional details here: https://sites.google.com/smfcsd.org/facility-master-planning/the-plan?authuser=0
Come learn about the specific issues with our current school facilities, hear the details of the plan and how your tax dollars would be spent and ask your questions so that you're fully informed before you vote on Issue 31. This meeting is open to any Stow residents.
Stow Trick or Treat Set for Oct. 26
The City of Stow will hold its citywide trick or treat on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 5:30-7:30 pm. During comments at the Thursday, Oct. 10 City Council meeting, Mayor John Pribonic reminded residents who will be handing out candy to turn on their front lights so that children will know which houses to knock.
