'Going to turn around our downtown;' Elyria esports facility breaks ground

ELYRIA — A symbolic groundbreaking on Tuesday marked a major milestone for the Forge 417 esports facility, a major but repeatedly-delayed project which city officials and developers said could be transformative for downtown. Forge 417 is a $12.5 million project which looks to completely transform the historic Dixon and Robinson buildings on Broad Street into a combined facility with an esports arena on the first floor and offices and residences above. First proposed in 2022, the project has undergone several changes and a number of roadblocks, delays and issues, but with the groundbreaking on Tuesday, developer Kevin Flanigan said Forge 417 is on track to hopefully be complete in December 2026 and open early in 2027. "We think that this will be very transformational for downtown Elyria," Flanigan said. "We have a lot of ideas, a lot of thoughts on how it is going to come together, grow and bring people into downtown, that was our whole goal." Flanigan, of Grafton, spoke to a group of around two dozen investors, community leaders and city and elected officials at The Foundry, which he also owns, prior to the groundbreaking itself, lamenting the long process but celebrating the cooperation that saw the project through it. "It was a definite team effort across the whole board." Flanigan said. "It would not have happened without all of our partners coming together and working with us through a lot of changes, a lot of adjustments. As (Mayor Kevin Brubaker) said, there were a lot of roadblocks here and there, but we were able to get through it." The first floor of Dixon and Robinson will be combined to focus primarily on the esports arena which will be the focus of the project, but there will also be a restaurant and a more general computer and tech facility to either side. Stephanie Mercado, an economic development consultant for the project, said that the arena space will also be modular to allow layouts for other large events like shows or weddings. The second and third floors of the Dixon building will be converted to office space which will be rented out, and the top floors of the Robinson building will become 16 units of multi-family housing. "We have the full concept of work, live, play all in this building and of course in downtown Elyria," Mercado said. Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker said that the combined event, business and residential project will serve as a "catalyst" to drive economic growth and further development downtown. "By the sheer (scope of) project that we are about to undertake here in the city of Elyria, right downtown, there is no community around, I would argue, that is going to have that in the center of their downtown," Brubaker said. What is commonly referred to as the Dixon and Robinson buildings is a structure which is actually made up of three interconnected buildings just north of Ely Square, all originally constructed by the Ely family in the early 1870s. The age and partial degradation of the buildings created myriad problems during the construction, especially after demolition began. In a July meeting, Mercado told City Council that the shared back wall of the entire structure was found to have more significant structural issues than initially anticipated. This forced project architects to alter the project designs and then have those designs go back through the state Department of Development's Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program for fresh approval. The project is set to receive about $2 million in tax credits through the historic preservation program, which requires certain features of the building not be altered from their original style and construction, Mercado said. She also noted that before Flanigan had ever even announced the project publicly, the former Vic's Night Club and Mardi Gras building burned down in 2021 on the other side of Depot Street, just feet away from the Dixon and Robinson buildings. "That happening to a project at such an early stage could have stopped the project," Mercado said. "It was such a huge obstacle to overcome, but the fact that we are here today is a testament to the resilience of Kevin (Flanigan), our project team, our community partners, our financing partners and it is such a reflection of the city of Elyria." While the pre-development work did slow the project, Mercado said that the amount which has already been done has the project about 30 percent complete. "I know it's been a long time, and I'll say it this way, we have heard the skeptics say that this project was never going to take off," Brubaker said. "But I had said this from Day One; Kevin Flanigan and his team are not as successful as they are because they make stupid, fast, dumb decisions. They are very calculated in what they do and the success they've had is a testament to the success that his way does work with his team." Assistant Safety Service Director Dawn Calvert said that the age of the building, certain administrative hoops and the numerous funding and credit sources made the planning and design process for Forge 417 especially difficult. "This was hands-down the most complicated economic development project that I have ever worked on," Calvert said. "Which you can tell by looking around the room at the number of people who actually played an active role in helping it get to this point… (It is) a testament to how much the community believes in this project and the impact it can have for Elyria." Calvert thanked both her staff and those on Flanigan's team for their patience and commitment in working through the approval process of the city as well as the other state and county bodies that had a hand in the project. "Thanks most of all to Kevin Flanigan and his entire family for your vision, persistence and commitment, and your hope for the city of Elyria to really demonstrate the vibrancy that can be here again," she said. Calvert said that in addition to the $12.5 million investment the project meant, Forge 417 would also provide an estimated 50 new full time jobs once it is complete. "This is the holy grail of economic development projects," Calvert said. "It has historic redevelopment, education, innovation, technology and housing. That is going to bring all those pieces together to really make something special happen here, not just today but into the future as well." Brubaker said that in addition to the opening of The Shoppes on Broad just a few doors down and other ongoing projects nearby, Forge 417 would serve as the boost downtown Elyria needs to return to its former glory. "This is going to turn our downtown Elyria around," he said. "This is going to bring people downtown… When we look at this project and all the components that Dawn just shared that it is going to bring, the housing, the education, the entertainment, right here downtown, I am so excited about this project." In addition to the historical tax credits that the project will receive, the lead financers on the project are Huntington Bank and the Development Financing Authority of Summit County. "I'm a believer that in economic and community development, anything worth doing is going to take a great deal of time, tenacity and collaboration, and this project took all of those things," said Development Financing Authority of Summit County President Rachel Bridenstine. "So congratulations, and we can't wait to see what the final product looks like… but more so I'm excited to see about the impact that it brings to the city of Elyria and its people." The city is also supporting the project by providing a 15-year, 100 percent tax exemption for the esports arena portion of the building, which was approved by Council in July. This will allow Forge 417 to pay no new property taxes on the additional value created by the construction of the arena itself. The residential portion of the project will be taxed at its full final value. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.