Welty and Coon Restoration Eyeing former Hoover Co.

There’s renewed hope that the long-vacant, west Hoover Co. factory will someday be a lively hub in the heart of North Canton.

Steve Coon, of the Louisville-based Coon Restoration, and Don Taylor, CEO of Welty Enterprises, are working on a deal to lead the stalled development. Maple Street Commerce — a venture of developers Stuart Lichter and Chris Semarjian — has owned the property since 2008.

“We’re just negotiating right now with the group, but it all looks good,” Coon said.

The Hoover Co. closed its vacuum manufacturing facility in September 2007 after a series of ownership changes, leaving North Canton with a vacant building and a drop in income tax revenue. The company employed more than 3,000 people at its peak.

Maple Street Commerce took over the campus in early 2008 with plans to develop a “state-of-the-art business park.” The Hoover District attracted several tenants with more than 1,000 people working on-site by 2012.

Five years later, the chimney stack had been rebuilt and interior demolition of the western portion of the factory was done in preparation for apartments, but the initial completion date came and went. The city began to lose its patience with the developers by 2018 and issued code violations for the Hoover District’s “unsightly” exterior.

The city’s relationship with Maple Street Commerce has remained strained over the last several years.

Whether the new team will partner with Lichter and Semarjian or acquire the property outright has yet to be determined, said Coon, who expects the deal to be finalized in the coming months.

Crain’s Cleveland Business has reported that Taylor and Lichter confirmed they are working on a deal. Neither they nor Semarjian responded to The Canton Repository’s requests for comment.

Who are the key players?

The developers have portfolios that include prominent projects throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond.

Coon has restored several historic properties, with a particular focus on Canton. His company renovated the Historic Onesto Lofts and the Bliss Lofts, which opened in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Coon also reopened the commercial Landmark Tavern building last year and is transforming the Renkert Building into a hotel.

Taylor and the Fairlawn-based Welty Enterprises have worked on the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters in Cleveland, the Bowery District apartments in Akron and the Hall of Fame Village in Canton.

Lichter, founder and president of Industrial Realty Group, has worked on projects nationwide and is leading the Village development near the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That’s involved its own lulls since 2015 and includes a new stadium, youth fields and buildings with office, retail and event space.

Semarjian owns the Cleveland-based Industrial Commercial Properties. In Akron, he developed the Chapel Hill Business Park at the former mall and worked with Lichter on Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.’s headquarters and the mixed-use East End development.

Lichter and Semarjian also partnered in 2021 to take ownership of the International Exposition Center, or I-X Center, in Cleveland.

What’s the vision?

The brick building on the northeast corner of Main Street and Maple Street is four stories and over 509,000 square feet. It was listed for sale or lease in April with a “negotiable” price.

Coon said that if a deal is formalized, market-rate housing at the site is a must. The plan for retail on the first floor, which has lost some appeal in a post-pandemic market, is less certain.

“So we’re probably going to have to kind of reinvent that first floor,” he said.

Coon said there are multiple issues to sort out — including environmental remediation, renegotiating a tax-increment financing deal with the city and reapplying for state historic tax credits.

“There’s a lot of due diligence,” he said. “It’ll probably take us a year to kind of put this whole thing together, but we would be on solid ground, and we’d have a plan.”

Jason Segedy, deputy director of administration and development for North Canton, said the city’s leadership would be happy to see any development team with a “proven track record” complete the project, whether that be the existing or new owners. The city’s population grew to 17,692 in 2025, and there’s not enough vacant land to meet the demand for new housing.

“I think it would be filled as quickly as they can build it because people very much want to live in North Canton,” Segedy said.

The city has a conditional tax-increment financing deal with the current owners that is estimated to be worth millions of dollars over 30 years. Segedy said it’s contingent on the start of residential construction, so no property tax payments have been affected yet.

“We do recognize that a project of that magnitude is difficult to do without an agreement like that,” he said about the city’s willingness to work with a new owner.

What area residents want

A handful of residents in the surrounding neighborhood said they want the project completed as planned.

Maxine Shaffer, 101, and Martha Starcher, 84, said they don’t want the historic building demolished and thought residential housing would work well.

“This is a nice neighborhood. It’s older,” said Shaffer, a resident of Adena Street NE since 1992.

Starcher, who worked in sales at the Hoover Co. and now lives in Louisville, lived in the area for 32 years.

“I was in hopes they would get people to rent like they said they would,” she said.

Starcher said she might be interested in retail, but it would depend on the shops and their accessibility to someone with limited mobility. There would need to be adequate parking, she added, noting the already busy intersection.

Challenges to overcome

Lichter and Semarjian commercially developed the eastern and northern portions of the former industrial site but failed to complete the proposed mixed-use complex.

Segedy said the city is thankful to have a good portion of the complex filled. Diebold Nixdorf is one of the largest commercial tenants with about 800 employees between the company’s Orchard Avenue NE headquarters and Maple Street offices.

“This west factory is kind of the last piece of the puzzle,” Segedy said.

There are about 24 existing code violations, most related to securing the building from trespassers or the elements. Segedy said that “isn’t surprising” given the structure’s age and continued vacancy. The owners also pay the city’s vacant building registration fee, which was $76,000 in 2025.

“I think the biggest hurdle for them, as I understand it, has just always been putting together a funding, capital stack,” Segedy said. “It’s a very complicated project.”

Coon said high interest rates have hindered development projects across the state, but it “can’t stay tough forever.” He didn’t have a current cost estimate for completing the western portion.

“It took longer than expected but, potentially, I think we’ve got the right team to move things forward,” he said.

Coon recalled renovating the now occupied Onesto and Bliss despite “naysayers” and said the developers involved with the Hoover District care about the community. He recognized Lichter and his significant investments in the Village.

“I know he’s had his hands full with a lot of other things and the Hoover facility was maybe not at the top of the list, but I think he’s getting a lot of that stuff resolved and focusing a little more on getting stuff done that he said was going to get done,” Coon said. “Not everything happens the way you plan it initially, but eventually you’re going to get there.”