MENTOR, Ohio — City officials are taking the first step toward redeveloping Mentor’s Old Village commercial corridor, where several long-vacant and deteriorating buildings have stood for decades.

City Council on Sept. 2 held the first reading of an ordinance seeking to rezone about 1.34 acres along Mentor Avenue to allow construction of a four-story mixed-use building with shops and 45 apartments.

The property, now zoned B-2 General Business, would need to be changed to the Planned Infill Development Overlay District to permit the combination of ground-floor commercial space and three floors of residential units, according to city Planning Director Kathy Cantanzriti.

Parking would be almost entirely behind the new structure, with an underground garage also planned, Cantanzriti said. She

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