LEC to Open New Student Housing in Downtown Painesville

Lake Erie College, partnering with Renew Partners LLC, will renovate the old Lake County National Bank building located in Painesville’s town square (most recently Chase Bank) to create new student housing. The building will soon undergo a drastic makeover to make room for 172 Lake Erie College students.

The building will feature suite style living where each student will have private bedrooms and shared common areas including a full kitchen in each suite. A popular amenity will be that each resident will have their own reserved parking space. Another exciting development will be a new 6,000 square foot restaurant located on the ground floor, which will be open to the public.

Taking advantage of historic tax credits, the $16.4 million project is committed to restoring historic elements of the building. The historic Boardroom will be preserved and used as a new meeting space for student organizations. The unique teller windows will remain as a prominent feature in the restaurant space, and the beautiful mid-century grand floating staircase will lead from the lobby up to the new state-of-the-art fitness center on the second floor overlooking the square.

“We are incredibly excited to bring this new commitment to Downtown Painesville,” said Lake Erie College president Brian Posler. “The citizens of Painesville have always been good neighbors to the College, and by moving our students downtown we hope to energize additional development around the square.”

The City of Painesville, and its Director of Economic Development, Cathy Bieterman, have been wonderful partners helping advance this project at every step along the way. The city has planned $1 million to fund streetscape improvements around the property as a means to help welcome downtown’s newest residents.

The facility will be considered on-campus apartment style housing. First-year students will remain in on-campus residence halls, and returning students will have the option to live in the new housing. Lake Erie College will list the property as LEC housing on its website and make it a part of the student housing selection process. LEC will assign resident assistants to the building and around the clock security, similar to the College’s on campus residence halls.

The project has a proposed completion date of July 2023.