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Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024
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Apartments going in on Rt. 58 Amherst Township development begins east of Route 58, south of turnpike with more to come Richard Perrins The Community Guide
Construction is underway in Amherst Township for Redwood Amherst, a development of 205 single-story apartments. The development, at 1120 Red Thimbleberry Drive, is part of the township’s Sandstone housing and commercial development project. Sandstone will eventually encompass about 264 acres, according to planning documents that have been in the works since 2021, and will be just south of the Ohio Turnpike between state Route 58 and Oberlin Road. The Redwood development will take up about 30 of those acres. Aryn Derryberry, Redwood Living’s regional manager, said the first phase of the project’s construction will put in 153 apartment homes, with the developer hoping to move in its first residents by March 2025.
Redwood Living is based in Independence and builds apartment homes and complexes across the midwest. The second phase of the project, which Derryberry said has no official timeline and still needs to be approved by the township’s planning officials, will add another 52 units. “There’s not much out there at the moment,” Derryberry said. “I really think it will help the area to boom. Growth and adding homes helps communities grow, helps schools grow. I think it will be a really nice project when it’s all said and done.” Two of the new development’s apartments will be 896 square feet, have one bedroom, one bathroom and a single-car garage, Derryberry said. The remaining units will have two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car
garage, she said. Floor plans for the apartments will vary within seven different designs, Derryberry said, but each will have single-story open floor plans, attached garages and private entrances with individual street addresses. The two-bedroomed apartments will be 1,294 square feet on average, she said, though the largest unit in the development will be 1,620 square feet. Derryberry said rent for the one-bedroom apartments will start at $1,999 a month, and rent will start at $2,199 a month for the two-bedroom apartments. Redwood previously built developments in Elyria and Sandusky. Derryberry said the design of the Amherst Township apartments will mirror those designs. “We want folks to like where they live,” Derryberry said. “We build a quality apartment home,
and hope we can continue to provide good service so people continue to have a good relationship with us.” Redwood is one of four development areas that will be part of Sandstone, including a commercial development area that will take up about 40 acres, Amherst Township Trustee Neil Lynch said. The other two areas are both residential. Four Seasons at Sandstone, an 86-acre development of 263 single-family residential homes, is currently under construction by K. Hovnanian Homes. The other, Sandstone Mill, will have 194 single-family homes on a 62-acre area constructed by Ryan Homes. The Sandstone development will include a connector road — Sandstone Parkway — between state Route 58 to the west and Oberlin Road to the east, Lynch said, along with a walking trail to the south.
Fore!
Ground broken for Topgolf on Chester Road in Avon Richard Perrins The Community Guide
KRISTIN BAUER / COMMUMITY GUIDE PHOTOSCLE
Family members of fallen soldiers gather around the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument for a moment of silence Saturday.
Gold Star families remember Lay wreaths for loved ones killed in action Hazelgrove, who was a sergeant in the U.S. Army, said it is the Gold Star families ELYRIA — More than a dozen people who are the legacy of those fallen service gathered at the Gold Star Families Memo- members. rial Monument in downtown Elyria to lay “We are the blood of our service mema wreath for the service members lost in bers,” she said. “We are raising our chilconflicts around the world. dren to have honor and respect and to do Led by Kimberly Hazelgrove, whose good in this world and hopefully continue husband Brian died in action in Iraq in the good work that they did for the coun2004, said some of those gathered were try.” descendants of those killed long ago — in “Let future generations know that here World War I or World War II. Others sufin Lorain County we honor, to a high fered more recent losses. degree, the choice of military service and “That’s the thing with grief,” she said. “It sacrifice,” Lorain County Veteran Service never quite goes away. And so the county Commission Director Jacob Smith said has made a very physical promise that our The memorial was held on the anniverfamilies are no longer going to be ignored sary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. or forgotten.” 7, 1941. Carissa Woytach The Community Guide
Kimberly Hazelgrove places a wreath at the monument in honor of her husband, Brian, who died in 2004 while serving in Iraq.
Topgolf will open a location in Avon in late 2025. The golf and entertainment venue broke ground on a two-level facility at 35343 Chester Road in Avon. Mayor Bryan Jensen said the company has been working with the Avon Planning Commission since late 2023 and is hoping the venue will open by September. The Avon facility eventually will have 64 outdoor, climate-controlled golf bays with loungestyle furniture and hightop tables, according to a Topgolf news release on Monday. Each of the bays has technology that traces the path of the golf ball as patrons hit it. The venue also will have a full-service bar, restaurant, outdoor patio and a private event space, the release said. Once open, the venue will employ about 200 people. “Topgolf is excited to grow its Ohio footprint into Avon,” Topgolf Chief Development Officer Chris Callaway said in the release. “We can’t wait to introduce the community to our unique style of play that brings together amazing food, fun and games for
experienced golfers and those just looking to have a great time.” The Avon venue will be Topgolf’s fifth in Ohio, with locations in Independence, Columbus, Akron and Cincinnati. Jacobs Real Estate Services, a Cleveland area commercial real estate group, partnered with Topgolf for preconstruction work at the site, Jensen said. The Avon Planning Commission approved the project at its meeting on Feb. 24. Topgolf facilities are typically large, with enough space for a massive mock fairway and the hitting bays themselves. Jensen said the design for the Avon venue is different from the location in Independence — more compact, he said. While Jensen couldn’t give size estimates for Avon’s venue as of Tuesday, the Independence facility has three levels and encompasses 65,000 square feet. The area where the venue will be located has been a hot spot for development in recent years, Jensen said, as an effort to offer residents and visitors “different choices” from food to entertainment. “We’ve been selective in terms of what goes there,” Jensen said.
INSIDE THIS WEEK Hoops for the holiday
Amherst
Oberlin
High schools’ seasons underway. A6
Mermaid’s Tale wins award. A3
Langston kids help hurricane victims. A4
SPORTS A6 • CROSSWORD A7 • SUDOKU A7 • KID SCOOP A8