Buying Vacant Land in Summit County: The Summit County Land Bank

What the Summit County Land Bank is

The Summit County Land Bank -- formally the Summit County Land Reutilization Corporation -- was established in 2012 as a nonprofit community improvement corporation, created in response to the foreclosure crisis, to acquire and address abandoned, blighted, and tax-delinquent property across the county. It works closely with all 31 of Summit County's cities, villages, and townships to support neighborhood reinvestment and economic development, and (like other Ohio county land banks) can issue bonds to help finance property acquisition, demolition, and site preparation for redevelopment.

The Side Lot program

The Land Bank's Side Lot program lets an eligible property owner acquire an adjacent vacant lot -- useful if your house sits next to a vacant lot and you'd like to expand your property. Applying requires a completed application and a non-refundable deposit; submitting an application does not guarantee the Land Bank will approve it, acquire the property, or ultimately sell it to the applicant. The approval process alone can take up to 90 days, and the full process -- including any conditions on the property -- can run 12 or more months, depending on the specific property and the volume of applications the Land Bank is currently processing. The Land Bank has indicated it will be updating its Side Lot Program pricing structure in 2026; confirm current pricing directly rather than assuming an older figure still applies.

Available lots, including those managed jointly by the Land Bank and individual cities, can be viewed on the Land Bank's own property map before you apply.

What to check before pursuing a Land Bank property

Start at summitlandbank.org to view current inventory and confirm which program (Side Lot or another) actually fits your situation, since eligibility and pricing structures differ. Confirm the zoning that applies to the specific parcel -- as described on this county's main hub, Summit County's land-use authority splits between Akron's own municipal zoning, other incorporated cities and villages' codes, and whichever of the county's nine remaining townships the parcel might fall in, so a Land Bank lot's redevelopment potential depends entirely on which of those rules governs its specific location.

Also confirm the property's tax and title history directly with the Summit County Fiscal Office and Recorder before finalizing a purchase -- a formerly tax-delinquent or long-vacant property can carry title complications that a standard residential sale wouldn't have.