© Robin Goist, cleveland.com/cleveland.com/TNS Akron's CitiCenter building, at 146 South High Street in downtown, is expected to be 90% vacant for two years as part of a plan to improve a private developer's chances of receiving historic tax credits for a $20 million redevelopment project.

AKRON, Ohio – City Council is expected Monday to approve payment of $306,000 to cover the cost of moving city employees out of the downtown CitiCenter building as part of plans by a private developer to transform the property into apartments and offices.

Brad Beckert, the city’s developing engineering manager, told a council committee this week that the 11-story building needs to be at least 90% vacant for two years to improve the chances of Cleveland-based Weston Inc. receiving historic tax credits for the project.

As proposed, Weston would eventually reimburse the city.

The city still owns the former YWCA at 146 South High Street, which is on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982. The building housed the Human Resources and Neighborhood Assistance departments, administrators for the Fire and Water departments and the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study.

Weston plans to buy the 90-year-old building for $2.8 million and invest $20 million to redevelop it to create 60 apartments and 20,000-square-feet of office space, city officials said previously.

In late 2018, Akron hired Thomarios construction’s Apostolos Group to move the employees, office furniture and “multiple floors” of filing cabinets, Beckert said.

The Apostolos Group reconstructed some parts of the CitiCenter building and relocated the office furniture and filing cabinets to other buildings including City Hall, the state-owned Ocasek building and the water distribution headquarters on Triplett Boulevard, Beckert said.

The contractor billed the city $306,000 for the move and renovations, which Beckert said the city will get back from Weston by the end of the year.

“When we close on this project at the end of the year, we will get this money back from the developer when we provide him title to the building,” Beckert said. “Our anticipated schedule is to close on the project at the end of the year.”

The Planning and Economic Development Committee agreed to add the measure to Monday’s consent agenda, City Council’s set of routinely approved legislation.

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