Akron wants “new ideas and new vision” for the aging, massive former Firestone headquarters and factory, including possibly relocating Bridgestone’s IndyCar race tire facility — and even tearing down the iconic building.
The city on Monday said it wants to find a new developer for the city-owned property at 1200 Firestone Parkway. The 750,000-square-foot building, now largely empty, is more than 100 years old.
The city said redevelopment of the site will serve as a catalyst for the Firestone Park area. It also raised the possibility that the building could be demolished.
“We mainly want to see some new ideas, new concepts come through,” said James Hardy, chief of staff to Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan. “We just want to see opportunities for a broad array of developers to come in. … We wanted to open it up to new ideas and new vision.”
As part of that, “we’re hoping to have a new facility for IndyCar tires,” Hardy said. The city and Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas have been having discussions regarding the IndyCar manufacturing facility, he said.
“Our hope is we will have a new facility that will have IndyCar tires made in Akron,” Hardy said.
A Bridgestone spokeswoman said she was unaware of the city’s proposal and could not comment Monday.
Developer David Marshall of Amerimar Realty in Philadelphia had options the last several years to buy the site and find new uses for it; the last option expired on March 31.
Marshall said he had not yet seen the city’s “request for qualifications” but said he may submit a new proposal. He said he had been searching for tenants for the property.
“It was not easy to market. I won’t say it was impossible,” Marshall said. He also said he was unable to get a commitment out of Bridgestone to keep IndyCar production at the site. Race tire production takes up about 100,000 square feet inside.
Amerimar is leasing the nearby, renovated Firestone Triangle Building at 1180 S. Main St. to Summit County. The county and real estate firm held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning at the office building.
Akron said it is seeking “a development entity or multiple development entities with exceptional experience and capability to transform the [Firestone property] into a thriving, job creation center that offers a collaborative and environment-based, on-job creation and neighborhood enhancement.”
The city press release said the selection process “will lead to the designation of a development entity responsible for relocating the existing Bridgestone tire manufacturing center to reutilize the existing structure or demolishing the structure to redevelop the Firestone property.”
In the 1980s, Firestone had about 1,300 employees at the former Plant One before it ceased truck tire production.
The city took over ownership of the building in 2009 as part of the deal to build the new Bridgestone technical center in Akron. The city said it will transfer ownership of the property to whoever develops it.
The deadline to submit initial proposals is May 9.
Final proposals will be made public, including presentation in a public forum, according to the city.
The mayor wants to move on redeveloping the site “with a reasonable amount of speed” once a proposal is selected, Hardy said.
“The mayor wants the right fit with the right vision,” Hardy said. “We want to move expeditiously but appropriately.”
For more information, go to: http://www.akronohio.gov/cms/firestonerfq/index.html/
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ.