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80-acre development could include health facility, hotel, restaurants, spa, shops
By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal medical writer
Published on Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008
A developer wants to transform an abandoned amusement park in Medina County into a residential and retail development with a fitness center run by Akron General Health System.
Chippewa Partners LLC is moving forward with plans to create an 80-acre development called Chippewa Landing on the former Chippewa Lake Park property in Lafayette Township.
Akron General announced on Tuesday that it has signed a five-year agreement to help plan and manage the Health & Wellness Center at Chippewa Landing.
The proposed medically based fitness center will be similar to the health system's centers in Bath Township and Stow, but smaller in scale, said Doug Ribley, vice president of wellness and administration for Akron General's health and wellness centers.
The project will be located about five miles away from Lodi Community Hospital, which Akron General Health System owns.
''We're really excited about getting the opportunity to expand our health and wellness services,'' Ribley said. '' . . . This gives us an opportunity to expand our reach into Medina County.''
The first phase of the project also will include an adjacent resort hotel with 110 rooms and a pampering spa, restaurants, a conference and music center, small shops and other entertainment venues, said Gary Sills, one of the managing members of Chippewa Partners.
Subsequent phases will include a residential development, Sills said.
''We really want to create a destination at Chippewa Lake that offered more than putting a stand-alone hotel out there or just building residential units,'' Sills said. ''We feel the Health & Wellness Center at Chippewa Landing will create some life at the heart of the development.''
The proposal brings new life to the old Chippewa Lake Park amusement park, which closed its gates in 1978 after 100 years in business.
The property has become overgrown, with foliage covering the rickety wooden roller coaster and large old trees propping up the former Ferris wheel.
Police officers and firefighters often have been called out to the property to deal with problems, including a massive arson fire several years ago that left the former Chippewa Lake Ballroom in ruins, township trustee Lynda Bowers said.
''With that big chunk of land out there not really being kept up and the burned-out buildings, it lends itself to mischief,'' she said.
Last year, the Medina County Park District acquired the spring-fed lake and land to the west of the lake.
Chippewa Partners then purchased the remaining 95 acres — 80 in Lafayette Township and 15 in Westfield Township — this year for $3.15 million, Sills said. The purchase included access and boat-docking rights to the county-owned lake.
The development proposal will be presented to Lafayette Township's zoning commission and board of trustees for review within the next month, Sills said.
If all goes as planned, construction could begin in the spring and be completed in 18 months to two years, Sills said.
The total cost hasn't been finalized, he said.
The project should generate much-needed tax revenue, particularly for the Cloverleaf school district, Bowers said.
''Any time you can take some of the tax burden off the residents' back,'' she said, ''that's a good thing, as long as it's done well.''
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
A developer wants to transform an abandoned amusement park in Medina County into a residential and retail development with a fitness center run by Akron General Health System.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Wadsworth, OH
Posted 07:13 AM, 09/10/2008
If a story falls on Ohio.com and nobody is around to discuss it, is it really a story?
Posted 07:45 AM, 09/10/2008
Don't you hate uninformed government officials? The hospital development will probably be tax exempt and the residential development will be a TAX BURDEN to the schools!
Posted 08:37 PM, 09/10/2008
too bad another old park closed
south of Akron, NO
Posted 11:47 AM, 09/11/2008
now, tell me, just who will patronize this place? I don't see the need myself...
Posted 03:06 PM, 09/15/2008
It would be nice to have a little amusement park around here. The corporate giants seem to think they can just swoop in and take anything little fun thing away, ie: Seaworld and Geauga Lake.
