AKRON, Ohio – Akron City Council has agreed to sell two acres on the city’s West Side for the construction of a 50-unit apartment building that is intended for families with children attending the nearby I Promise School.

Council suspended its rules Monday to do away with a second reading of the proposal and immediately approve the sale of the empty land for $1 to the East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation, EANDC.

The development corporation - the project developer and future manager of the property - had requested the swift sale to remain on track for a deadline next week to apply for Ohio Housing Finance Agency low-income housing tax credits.

The proposed 68,000-square-foot apartment building has an estimated cost of $13.2 million, EANDC CEO Cheryl Stephens told cleveland.com.

The development corporation is applying for about $9 million in tax credits. It plans to pay for the rest of the project with about $1 million in federal housing funds through the city of Akron, $600,000 from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency and Ohio Development Services Agency, $350,000 from a group of private investors, and $1.4 million that would be borrowed.

Plans for the building on the corner of Cedar and Maple streets include staggered, three-story wings on each side, with the ground floor on the Maple Street side being the same level as the second floor on the Cedar Street side, according to Kyle Julien, director of urban planning for EANDC. It will have a handful of two- and four-bedroom units, with the majority of units being three-bedroom. The building is about a 15-minute walk or five-minute drive to the I Promise School on West Market Street.

Stephens learned that some I Promise students have to take hour-long bus rides to attend school, and came up with the project when she reflected on how that compared to LeBron James’ own personal story.

“Part of the story that LeBron tells is how he pedaled his little bike past these bad houses, and how he didn’t study well when they slept at places that weren’t really good,” Stephens said. “He knows that’s part of the problem for kids, but he’s helping give them a better education, and I’m like: our job is housing. We should build affordable housing with a preference for the kids at the I Promise School.”

Akron Public Schools and the LeBron James Family Foundation started the I Promise School as a public school for some of Akron’s most at-risk third-. fourth- and fifth-graders. The foundation funds year-round social services and resources for the students and their families.

EANDC will give preference to the families of the 343 students attending I Promise, as well as those of the nearly 1,100 children in the I Promise Network, who are coached, taught and mentored by the LeBron James Family Foundation.

Rent will range from about $350 to $850, which is based on families earning 30 to 60% of Akron’s median household income, or between $11,259 to $22,519, according to Julien and statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2018.

EANDC hopes to break ground in the summer or early fall, and be able to move families into apartments by September 2021.

Plans call for the first-floor of the building to also include a community meeting room, study carrels, an exercise room, a technology room and offices for property-management staff. The LeBron James Family Foundation will provide social services to I Promise School and Network families.

A spokeswoman for the LeBron James Family Foundation said the project is in the very early stages, but the organization is excited by any prospect to continue to provide resources and support to students and families.

In November, the foundation announced plans to renovate the historic Westmont apartment building on Rhodes Avenue – about five blocks from the school – to offer transitional housing for I Promise families when they experience homelessness, domestic violence or other unforeseen circumstances. The “I Promise Village” is expected to begin welcoming families this summer.

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