Recordpub.com - Landmark doomed? Ravenna building may be razed for parking

By Jason De Leon

Record-Courier staff writer

Last week, the time-and-temperature clock was removed from the corner of Main and Chestnut streets in downtown Ravenna. Soon, there could be a historic 154-year-old building missing at that corner.

A portion of the Phenix Block, one of the oldest properties in the downtown district, 101 E. Main Street to 110 N. Chestnut St., is for sale by Ravenna attorney Terry Kane, its co-owner. The property has frontage on both East Main and North Chestnut streets.

Kane said Monday he has "talked to people in Cleveland about putting up a multi-level" parking garage.

"It is kind of a last resort kind of thing. I might have to do that. If you are going to have a downtown, you have to have parking. The county is taking up all the space," he said.

"I am getting close to just leveling this building and putting in a parking lot. Everyone says there is not enough public parking," he said. "What better place to have a parking lot than on the corner of Main Street and Chestnut Street? I am getting tired of the historical things around here."

The Phenix Block was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1985.

Kane, who operates the law offices of Kane & Kane in the building, owns the property with his sister, Mary Ellen Stewart of California.

"I have been working on trying to sell it at a pretty nominal price," he said. "What else are you going to do?"

According to Ravenna Service Director Don Kainrad, the building cannot be demolished without city approval because it is zoned as a historical structure.

"He cannot just arbitrarily tear it down," Kainrad said. "I would be very disappointed. That building is in a very prominent area of our downtown district. He would have to comply with all of the city's ordinances and regulations."

Kane would have to go before the Ravenna Historic Design Review District Commission and the Ravenna Planning Commission to receive approval to demolish his property.

Kane said he has looked at the city's regulations on historic sites in the downtown district.

"It is really gibberish. It doesn't make sense. No one has ever really contested it," he said.

Mayor Kevin Poland is against the idea of a parking lot.

"Terry cannot just tear down that historic building. Even if it was an option, I think that would make a poor location for a parking lot. It is not very wide and getting in and out of it would be a nightmare," he said.

"I would be very surprised if putting in a parking lot would be the outcome. I understand how frustrating trying to sell property anywhere this day in age is, but I don't think this is a viable option," he said.

In June, Kane requested that Key Bank in Akron remove its time and temperature sign, located at the corner of his building. In a letter to the bank, he wrote, "I plan to demolish the building and convert the property to a parking lot."

The sign was removed last week. A downtown landmark, the sign was installed several decades ago when the building housed Second National Bank, a predecessor of Key Bank. When Second National moved to a location on North Chestnut Street and Kane's father, Herb, bought the former bank, the sign stayed there.

"I told Key Bank to remove the thing because it was an eyesore," he said. "Signs come down. It was a historical nothing. The sign was repulsive. It never kept the time and temperature accurate. People would come in here asking for Social Security because it was in the Key Bank building," he said.

"The electric on it was running like $100 a month and I told them they could pay rent on it and they removed it," he added.

A spokesman for Key Bank in Akron said Monday there are no plans at this time for relocating the sign.

The Phenix Block, located on the north side of Main Street from Chestnut Street to Hickory Way, is one of the oldest buildings in downtown Ravenna. Construction began in April 1853.

The first tenant, John H. Bostwick & Co., a dry goods emporium, began moving in as 1853 was drawing to a close.

The original tenant of Kane's portion of the block was Rowell, Witter and Co. The Second National Bank later was a mainstay of the property for many years before the site was sold to the Kane family.

The building's third floor was demolished in the 1950s.