Tylar Sutton
Kent State University is re-organizing its real estate portfolio. Planners have identified about 200 acres of land the university owns throughout Kent, Brimfield and Franklin Township that it can’t use anymore — which means it’s all going up for sale.
The university rarely sells large pieces of land, making this a big opportunity for anyone who’s wanted to relocate closer to the thousands of students, professors and visitors who pass through Kent every day.
Local real estate firm Stouffer Realty is managing the land sale that could exceed $4 million total. Such large-scale deals are usually managed by national corporate real estate firms, but president and broker Gary Stouffer is confident his firm knows The 330, university and industry well enough to handle it.
“With the internet, we can create a national exposure for real estate just like any large national company,” he says.
While Kent State cited the parcels for sale don’t have strategic value to the university, the land is a big opportunity for others, including developers — and there’s already been some housing buzz.
None of the parcels were under purchase agreement at press time, but 33.55 acres at 5439 Burnett Road has attracted interest. The land boasts a 2.5-acre pond and frontage on Summit Street across from the university’s Summit East parking lot. It’s already zoned for high-density residential development, which Stouffer says means housing other than a single-family home. Another parcel, the 25-acre southern portion of the former Kent State University Golf Course on Powdermill Road, is zoned for low-density residential development — aka lots for single-family homes.
Land around the northern portion of the former Kent State golf course and a parcel on state Route 43 are currently zoned commercial, so any developers looking to turn that area into a residential neighborhood would need to pursue rezoning. It could be worth it, though, to expand Kent’s population with a new crop of homeowners, shoppers and taxpayers while providing the university with capital to continue its own improvements.
“Whenever you get new housing, you get new people,” Stouffer says. “And you get people that can afford to spend some money in that area.”
