Demolition has started on three university-owned properties near campus.

The university has owned the properties, located on East College Avenue and College Court near the John Elliot Center for Architecture and Environmental Design, for more than a decade.

In 2010, the Kent State Board of Trustees authorized the purchase of 416 E. College Ave. for $165,00 and 324 College Ct. for $147,000. The following year, it authorized the purchase of 428 E College Ave. and 430 E College Ave., a duplex, for $230,000.

“We continued to rent them to students for a couple of years, but the properties were in poor condition,” said Douglas Pearson, associate vice president for facilities planning and operations. “We didn’t feel it was safe for students anymore, so we vacated them last year.”

The university owns four properties on the block between East College Avenue and South Lincoln Street. In 2021, the board of trustees approved the purchase of 226 S. Lincoln St. and 230 S. Lincoln St. for $615,000. Those properties have also since been demolished and sit unused.

The university has previously spent millions of dollars acquiring commercial and private properties near campus, including at least $2 million in 2011.

“Eventually, that block on East College Avenue between South Lincoln and South Willow, the university would eventually like to own all those properties, then it’s contiguous with [the] Kent State Alumni Association building and the College of Architecture,” Pearson said.

Demolition of the properties should be completed by the second week of September. Pearson said while there are no current plans for developing the land, a master plan is in the works.

Alton Northup is a staff reporter. Contact him at [email protected].