CANTON – “Where would the love seat go?”
Kathie Perine-Bifano, 65, asked her husband Dan Bifano, 67, that question as they stood inside a newly constructed unit at Newton Family Apartments, already imagining how to turn it into a home.
For Perine-Bifano, a lifelong Canton resident, the search for a new place wasn’t just about preference. She said she can no longer navigate the stairs in her home, pushing the couple to find something more accessible. They landed on the Newton Family Apartments, a new complex built by Canton For All People, a community development nonprofit.
The 52-unit affordable housing apartment complex at 1016 Second St. NW was designed with families in mind. Rents range from $350 to $1,050 with 28 three-bedroom units, 20 two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units.
The completed building includes a playground, a community room and a fitness center. The $21 million project was developed in partnership with Woda Cooper Companies, which specializes in affordable housing.
Community members, project partners and new and prospective residents gathered May 8 to celebrate the building’s completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“I’m a little bias, but I think these are the best apartments in the whole entire county,” said Gino Haynes, deputy director of Canton For All People.
Former Canton Inn site gets new life
The Bifanos are still in the application process, joining a list of prospective tenants. Fourteen of the 52 units are already occupied, and demand continues to climb, with a lengthy waiting list as of May 8.
Just four years ago, a development like this would have been hard to imagine.
The apartments sit on the site of the former Canton Inn, once a notorious hotspot for crime.
“The consensus was, whatever was here shouldn’t exist,” said Don Ackerman, director of Canton for All People.
In July 2022, the Canton Community Improvement Corp. purchased the property for $629,000 and an adjacent parcel for $170,000.
The City of Canton invested an additional $59,000 for asbestos abatement and $72,000 for demolition before transferring the site to Canton For All People.
“It takes everybody,” Ackerman said. “Remember where we started the story and then we get to pick … the kind of future we want to live in together.”
Construction on the apartment building began over year ago, with the total project costing roughly $21 million.
“It’s a big replacement from what was here before,” said Paige Winters, a new resident.
Winters, 36, moved into her third floor apartment in mid-March alongside her service dog, Bruiser. She’s among the first residents to call the building home.
“I can’t say enough about the place: real clean, real nice, great people,” Winters said. “I really enjoy living here.”
‘That makes me happy.’ Shorb revitalization takes shape
Perine-Bifano grew up in the neighborhood and, after moving away, never expected to return. She recalled the state of the Canton Inn over time.
“I watched it decline year by year,” she said. “It wasn’t good.”
In 2021, Canton For All People conducted a study of the Shorb neighborhood, the area defined as Tuscarawas Street W to 12th Street NW and McKinley Avenue NW to the railroad on the west. Over the past several years, Ackerman reported putting $35 million into the area, including home rehabs and new home builds.
“This project has been, really a microcosm, of what we’re trying to create throughout the neighborhood,” Haynes said.
In late 2022, Canton For All People purchased the former Marshall Maytag Building and created the Shorb Market and Connection Center at 603 Shorb Ave. NW.
Other plans for the area include 38 apartment units at the site of the former Canton Preservation Society resale store at 1223 and 1227 Tuscarawas St. W; duplexes on nearby Brown Avenue; and single-family residences.
Canton For All People offers homes for both rental and ownership opportunities as units become available.
As those efforts take shape, Perine-Bifano said she can see the difference in the neighborhood she grew up in and is once again going to call home.
“I see less and less of that (old neighborhood) when I come over this way,” she said. “So that really makes me happy.”
Contact Abreanna Blose by email at ablose@usatodayco.com or by phone at 330-580-8513.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: ‘It takes everybody.’ Newton Family Apartments open doors to a new beginning
Reporting by Abreanna Blose, Canton Repository / The Repository
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