A steady neighborhood of homes and family businesses
South Akron sits east of Summit Lake and south of downtown, and about 8,700 people live here. Signal Akron’s 2025 profile describes it as “steady as she goes”: a residential neighborhood where many businesses have stayed put for decades.
Grant Street is the clearest example. Klein’s Seafood has sold fish at 1072 Grant Street for close to 40 years, after the family spent 30 years down the street before that. DiFeo & Sons Poultry is across the road, so neighbors treat the two as a one-stop shop.
A door-to-door salesman who grew up around here said the area feels like family. His older siblings grew up here too, and his brother opened his first barbershop at Andrus Street and Cole Avenue. He also named the gaps: no full grocery store, another park would help, and many residents don’t have a car and rely on METRO buses or rideshare.
Industry, parks and public housing history
South Akron mixes houses with working land. Morgan Park at 419 Morgan Avenue sits between a truck dealership and small industrial properties. It won the Akron Parks Challenge, and a community-designed playground, resurfaced basketball courts, a trail and a pavilion followed.
Cole Avenue, which runs through the neighborhood, gives its name to the Cole Avenue Housing Project Historic District at 744 Colette Drive, listed on the National Register in 2007. The National Park Service record lists Colonial Revival buildings by architects John F. Suppes and J.L. Paolano, with significant years of 1941, 1946 and 1952.
In August 2026 the Planning Commission approved the Sweitzer redevelopment plan for about 124 acres between East South Street, South Main, Grant Street and Steiner and Miller avenues. The area holds the Summit County Jail, towing lots, vacant land, the closed Conrad Ott school building and just three houses. The plan lets the city use tax increment financing to attract business, and the director of South Street Ministries spoke in favor, asking that nearby businesses have a voice in it. The same meeting approved a six-unit residential project in South Akron, with three-bedroom apartments.
Selling a South Akron house
Houses here are usually priced block by block. A house on a quiet residential street sells differently from one facing a busy road or backing onto industrial property, and a buyer will notice both.
A direct sale tends to make sense when:
- the house needs repairs a mortgage lender would require before closing
- it’s been sitting empty, which brings insurance and break-in worries; see selling a vacant house
- it has open city orders, explained in our Akron housing code enforcement guide
If you’re not sure what your house would bring either way, read how cash home buyers calculate offers, then ask for a written offer to compare.