Groundbreaking for New Apartment Building Downtown is Friday

City officials will break ground Friday on the last, new building to be built downtown as part of the more than $100 million redevelopment well under way.

Building C, to stand at the southwest corner of the intersection of South DePeyster and Erie streets, will be home to 32 upscale apartments on the upper four floors with the 7,000-square-foot Bricco restaurant on the first floor.

The new building is being built via a partnership between the city and Cleveland developer Fairmount Properties, which also built the new AMETEK and Davey Tree buildings in the same downtown block.

The building represents an additional 42,000 square feet and $6.5 million investment, according to the city.

The groundbreaking will start at 11 a.m. at Bar 145. Here's the schedule of events:

• 11 a.m. – Bar 145 (100 E. Erie St.) - Opening comments and remarks
• 11:20 a.m. – “Building C” site – Phase overview and ground breaking
• 11:30 a.m. – Tour of Kent State Hotel and visitors center (optional)
• 12:00 p.m. – Reconvene at Bar 145 for lunch (optional)

The other two remaining redevelopment projects, the Kent Central Gateway Transit Center and Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center, are scheduled to open in March and June respectively.