Most of what will change at Routes 303 and 176 over the next two years will happen on land that is already public or in nonprofit hands. The village owns the northwest and southeast corners of the intersection. It owned the ground where Sweet Magnolia Scoops & Pies will be built. It bought the property under Richfield Brewing Company before the brewery existed. Separately, a private nonprofit called the Richfield Town Trust has spent about 30 years funding repairs to the old buildings and buying acreage so that no one else could develop it.
The brewery came first because the village bought the lot first
Richfield Brewing Company opened at 3871 Broadview Road on Dec. 9, 2024, as the Akron Beacon Journal reported. The owner describes it as a community-oriented beer hall. Today it serves house-brewed beer, chef-led pub fare, and Sunday brunch, and it's closed Tuesdays.
The site has a back story. In 2023, Scriptype reported that the village had bought the former Dr. Heinle property at that address to control how it would be used, then sold part of it to the brewery's owner. The same story described water service, parking, and buried utility lines as pieces of a larger plan to bring more activity to the historic district.
Each later project has followed the same pattern. The public side gets the land and the infrastructure ready, and a private business builds on it.
A bike ride paid for the old buildings
The village couldn't do the first part of this alone. In 1994, village planner Bob Perry told officials that most of the historic buildings in the center of town were in disrepair. Without help, he said, they would eventually disappear and the center would take on a more modern character or keep deteriorating. Because the buildings were privately owned, public money couldn't be spent to save them.
The money came from the Sweet Corn Challenge, a bike ride that ran for 25 years and drew more than 2,300 cyclists in its peak years. With the Chamber of Commerce's backing, 80% of the profits went to a new nonprofit, the Richfield Town Trust. The Trust invested the money until 2006 and then began awarding grants from the earnings, according to Scriptype's October 2026 profile of the Trust.
Several of the grants went to buildings you probably pass every week:
- Lee Marie Hair Salon received the first grant, $20,000 in 2006, to turn an abandoned 1850s home into a salon. The salon still operates in that restored building.
- Olesia's Taverne of Richfield has had three Trust grants under different owners, including $10,000 to Olesia Pochynok after her two-year remodel. Today it serves Ukrainian-influenced fine dining and has a private banquet hall. Its calendar includes a wine dinner on Thursday, Nov. 5.
- The red brick building at the intersection, the only brick building in the district, also received a Trust grant.
Since 2006, the Trust has made 46 grants totaling about $323,000. It also bought land. When a 7.5-acre parcel just east of Eastwood Preserve, zoned for four-story apartment buildings, came on the market, the Trust bought it to control what would be built there. Later it bought neighboring properties from the owner of the former Swan Plumbing company.
The Trust says its goal has stayed the same: keep Richfield's small-town character and make it easy to walk between restaurants, the library, Village Hall, the senior center, trails, and parks. That goal shows up in each of the next projects.
Grant Street's new lot and the ice cream shop are tied together
The next project is just off The Green. In September, the village cleared the property at 3771 Grant St., across from The Green and near Masonic Hall, for a parking lot with more than 100 spaces. The work was expected to take about 60 days. Trees on the lot were cut down, and the healthy oak in the middle of it is slated to be cleared as well.
According to the village's May 5, 2026 council minutes, Cavanaugh Building Corporation was the apparent low bidder for the lot at $386,311, under the $450,000 capital budget. The minutes also said construction of the lot would begin along with Sweet Magnolia's building project.
The two projects share a timeline. Sweet Magnolia Scoops & Pies is owned by Lisa Sherrill and her daughter, Lauren Rykalla. It's planned as a two-story building with about 100 seats, serving ice cream, pizza, salads, and desserts, with a kids' café and play area. When Scriptype first reported the project in August 2025, it was on village-owned land east of the brewery, next to the library parking lot. The sale price was $155,000, with about $2 million of investment expected.
The shop's timeline has moved more than once:
- August 2025: completion expected "by next summer."
- May 2026: a construction start expected in early fall.
- October 2026: construction expected to start "this winter." The cleared Grant Street lot will serve as a staging area for construction equipment.
So expect equipment on Grant Street this winter. An opening date hasn't been announced.
The new lot will also serve the halls around The Green. The May minutes describe Masonic Hall and Fellowship Hall as popular rental venues, and anyone who has gone to an event there knows parking is the hard part.
The intersection is the last piece
The biggest project is also the oldest. The $2.5 million plan for the Routes 303 and 176 intersection has been under discussion since 1998. Former Mayor Ralph Waszak pushed the village to go ahead with it during his last term on council. As Scriptype reported, he said:
"This will dramatically improve the appearance of that corner."
Village engineer David Neumeyer of GPD Group presented the details at a Sept. 15 council work session:
| What changes | Detail from the September plan |
|---|---|
| Lanes | Two lanes in all four directions, plus right-turn lanes in three of them. Eastbound 303 turning south onto 176 gets no right-turn lane. |
| Sidewalks | 5-foot sidewalks with 2-foot tree lawns in every direction, all accessible. On the west side of 176, the sidewalk stops at Richfield Chiropractic Center for now. |
| Signals | New traffic signals with left-turn detection |
| Drainage | New drainage to replace the enclosed ditches the intersection uses now |
| Road surface | All roadways repaved, and the roadway lowered 6 inches |
| Buildings | None removed. About 2 feet taken from most of the 20 properties involved. |
| Timing | Infrastructure work in 2027, then lane expansion and sidewalks in 2028 |
A roundabout was studied and ruled out because there wasn't enough room. The design uses as much of the two village-owned corners as possible, which is why the old buildings can stay. Olesia's Taverne is affected only by a new sidewalk near Route 303. The triangle of land in front of it, where the flag and memorials stand, already belongs to the village.
The northeast corner will change the most. The DougOut sits in the building once known as Liberty Hall and Sykes Store, the one with the tilt longtime residents know. Most of its parking spaces are in the road right-of-way along both routes, and the plan removes them. The engineer said a strip of land just east of the building, owned by Richfield Inn Properties, could be used for new, legal parking. DougOut owner Lee Edmison didn't object at the meeting and had already agreed to remove the large sign pole and planter box out front.
The village hired KMJ Land Services to negotiate payment with the 15 property owners for the land being taken. At the September session, owners near the southwest corner questioned whether the project was needed and whether it would make that corner safer. The engineer said the new curbs will make the intersection safer.
One walking improvement is already done. A new crosswalk on Broadview Road at High Street connects to Richfield Woods, and a flashing beacon will be added once it's delivered.
Not every change follows the plan. In January, the 1854 building at 3930 Broadview Road was torn down after village maintenance enforcement. Over the years it had been a mill, a basket factory, an antique shop, and a coffee shop. As Scriptype reported, citing The Richfield Times, its owners said they bought it for a possible expansion of L'unico Bridal, with no timeline set. Privately owned lots still move at their owners' pace.
Around the crossroads this fall
The rebuilding is a 2027 and 2028 project. The next few weeks still center on The Green, according to the village's 2026 events calendar:
- Sunday, Oct. 25, 1 to 3 p.m.: Trick-or-Treat on the Trail at Richfield Heritage Preserve, 4374 Broadview Road
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Country Hoedown at the Jan Weber Social Center
- Saturday, Oct. 31: the Halloween parade gathers at the Village Green Pavilion at Route 303 and Broadview Road at 5:30 p.m. and steps off at 5:45 p.m. toward the Richfield Fire Station at 4450 W. Streetsboro Road. Village trick-or-treating runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
- Thursday, Nov. 5: wine dinner at Olesia's Taverne
- Thursday, Nov. 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: village blood drive
The Richfield Tree Lighting date hasn't been announced yet. If your route goes west of the center, North Medina Line Road is scheduled to close for culvert work for 28 days starting Oct. 19, between Harter Road and McCormick Drive, with access to homes and businesses kept open, according to a village notice.
If you own property near the historic district and want to talk through what the next two years of construction might mean for a future sale or purchase, Heather Young is glad to share what she's seeing around town and help you think through your timing. Let's Connect.
