By:  DAN SHINGLER

Crain’s Cleveland Business

Akron’s Bowery District lands Burgess & Niple

The Akron office of Burgess & Niple is moving, but not far.

It’s taking up residence nearby, in the city’s Bowery District.

Dan Johnson, Akron manager for the Columbus-based, national engineering and architecture firm, said his firm wanted to maintain its presence in the city’s core and to move to a center of activity and development as it competes for talent.

The Bowery satisfied both requirements. It’s bustling, and it’s only a few blocks down South Main Street from Burgess & Niple’s current home at 50 S. Main in Akron Centre Plaza, more commonly known as the Chase Building.

“Our office has been downtown for 50 years,” Johnson said. “Our lease was up, and we were just looking around. We knew we’d want to move somewhere else downtown, and the Bowery was a great option.”

The firm is working to move into just more than 8,300 square feet of the Bowery, on the first floor a couple of doors down from Crave restaurant. Its new home will be in what was once the Osterman Furniture company’s building at 168 S. Main St.

“It’s a great fit for us,” said Bowery developer and Welty Building Co. CEO Donzell Taylor, who noted Burgess & Niple’s profile as a large professional service firm in a small local office is the kind of business the Bowery targets.

Burgess & Niple currently has just more than 6,100 square feet and takes up just less than half of the sixth floor in the Chase Building. The size is comparable because of differences in how common space is used in the two buildings, Johnson said.

“We knew we’d want to move somewhere in this (Chase) building or somewhere else downtown,” he said.

The firm has 17 employees downtown. From Akron, it does mostly civil engineering work with a focus on water, sewer and related infrastructure projects, Johnson said.

Burgess & Niple, like many firms, is on the hunt for new employees. Johnson said he hopes the new offices, near the Civic Theatre and an easy walk to RubberDucks Park and other attractions, will help attract talent.

“We wanted something that was an exciting location for employees. We’ll have patios that will overlook Lock 3, and we’ll be right on Main Street,” Johnson said.

Main Street might be where most of the visible activity is, but the back of Burgess & Niple’s new space shows off what might be the Bowery’s best feature: stunning views of the canal along with walking and gathering areas, architecture and art.

Ironically, the canal that anchors the entire setting and has only been uncovered in recent years was one of Burgess & Niple’s first jobs in Akron, at the behest of civic leaders with a vastly different view of downtown architecture than their recent successors.

“One of the first projects we did was the canal enclosure,“ Johnson said.

Johnson said he hopes the firm can move into the new offices by the end of April. As of Tuesday, March 21, the space was in the process of being finished. Taylor said that work is going well.

“We’re committed to leaving (the Chase Building) by the end of May, so we’re hoping to move by the end of April,” Johnson said.

Read more

Cleveland Crain’s

Crain’s 2022 Power 150

2022 Crain’s Power 150 celebrates and honors some of Ohio’s best and brightest. From CEOs and politicians to philanthropists and entrepreneurs, Crain’s Power 150 is a snapshot of those leading some of Northeast Ohio’s most influential organizations and are in a position to move the region forward.

Highlighted involvement: Team NEO, Greater Akron Chamber

In the news: As CEO of the Welty Building Co. since 1999, Taylor has followed his lifelong love of the construction industry into a role as not only a successful businessman but also as a community leader. He was integral in getting Akron’s Bowery District built and full of residential tenants and is a major player in Sherwin-Williams Co.’s development in downtown Cleveland.

Read more

Crain’s 2020 Power 150

From CEOs and politicians to philanthropists and entrepreneurs, Crain’s “Power 150” list is just a snapshot of those leading some of Northeast Ohio’s most influential organizations and who are in a position to move the region forward. There were no specific criteria used in selecting the “Power 150,” nor were they chosen through a nomination process. Rather, our editorial staff collectively gathered names, taking into consideration each person’s role in Northeast Ohio and that of their organization. An effort was made to include a range of people, businesses and industries. In some instances — as was the case with Case Western Reserve University — a delayed replacement in a permanent leadership position resulted in exclusion from the list. Because many of those listed serve on multiple boards, we limited highlighted involvement to three organizations or efforts. The 2020 “Power 150” is an updated version of the 2014 “Power 150” and the 2017 “Who’s Who in Northeast Ohio” lists.

How to start your Blogging:

By:  ERIC POSTON

Akron.com

Downtown Akron to open Akron History Center Next Year

DOWNTOWN AKRON — A dedicated space to tell the history of the City of Akron is expected to open next December. Construction of the Akron History Center at the Bowery is underway in Building D in the Bowery District, located at 172 S. Main St. near the intersection of South Main and Bowery streets. The Center will consist of three floors totaling approximately 3,000 square feet. Akron historian Dave Lieberth said the space is the “perfect location” as the building is in Downtown Akron and in an historic district. He added the idea of a history museum is something he has had in the back of his mind for the past 40 years. Planning for a rubber museum in Akron began in 1979 when University of Akron (UA) President Dominic Guzzetta proposed a new museum chronicling the history of the rubber industry. Lieberth, at the time a 32-year-old trustee of the Summit County Historical Society, led a committee that conducted a comprehensive review to determine whether or not Akron could support such a new museum — given that prior initiatives (1959, 1963 and 1970) were never executed.

Lieberth added that in 1987, when UA president William Muse was asked to help bring the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) to Akron, the 1980 report was dusted off. With a commitment from the Ohio Historical Society, this report was foundational to the decision by the National Council of Intellectual Property Lawyers to move the NIHF to Akron. He said with Akron’s 2025 Bicentennial celebration approaching, this was an opportunity to make the history center a reality.
“Akron is the only major city in Ohio without one,” Lieberth said.

He said planning and gathering collections for the exhibits has already begun. Development consultant for the project is Deborah McVay Williams, of Time to Spare LLC, and the design process is being led by Barrie Projects, of Cleveland Heights.

In addition, the Summit County Historical Society has established a relationship with the center, with President and CEO Leianne Neff Heppner as the curatorial consultant for the center and in charge of artifacts to be loaned from the society’s collections to the center for display, Lieberth said. The total cost for the project is estimated at $2 million and fundraising efforts so far have totaled more than $1 million in commitments, Lieberth said. The commitments include $500,000 from the City of Akron, $100,000 from Summit County government and $100,000 from the Akron Community Foundation, he added. “We’re excited to be a part of this effort that has been decades in the making,” said John Petures Jr., president and CEO of Akron Community Foundation. “The foundation at its core is dedicated to making a lasting impact on our community, and I can think of no better way to do that than by helping to preserve the history of our community.” Lieberth said there is about $400,000 outstanding in requests and a fundraising campaign will launch in the first quarter of 2023 aimed at businesses more than 60 years old.

The history center exhibits will feature the founding of Akron, the geology of Akron, construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the clay products and rubber industries. Exhibits will also look at the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron in 1935 and the American cereal industry, which was founded in Akron with Quaker Oats a 140-year fixture of Akron’s skyline in a factory where Cascade Plaza is located today. There will also be a focus on famous Akron residents such as the late Judith Resnik and music groups such as Devo and The Black Keys. Lieberth said there are many stories of Akron history that have not been told or have been forgotten, such as race relations and Akron City Hall being burned to the ground, just to name a few. “These stories need to be told,” he said. “It is important that people know the past that may have been forgotten or underreported.” The history center will be operated by the Akron–Summit County Public Library, but a license agreement that will detail the responsibilities of all parties is still to be completed and is expected to be presented to the Board of Trustees for the library in the first quarter of 2023, according to Lieberth.

Read more

By: DAN SHINGLER 

Crain’s Cleveland Business

Analysis: Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan will be tough act to follow

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, who on Tuesday, Oct. 4, announced he will not seek re–election when his current term ends next year, gets high marks from local business and civic leaders who have long followed the city’s politics. He also leaves some important initiatives they hope his successor will continue.

Horrigan hasn’t been perfect, they say. But he moved the ball forward on important issues ranging from health care in the city to development downtown and elsewhere. And he did much of it, they note, while grappling with unprecedented issues they say would challenge, if not topple, most any city leader.

The points in Horrigan’s favor include reviving the downtown Bowery project, linking it with a new developer in Welty Building Co., and turning the $40-plus million project and its 92 apartments into a downtown anchor.

He also gets credit for spurring residential development across the city with a housing tax-abatement program, helping the city’s hospitals grow, improving health care equity, and supporting the city’s neighborhoods and community development organizations.

Overall, life and business conditions in Akron have improved under Horrigan, say business and civic leaders, who are still supportive of the mayor.

On the downside, his supporters say he might have done a better job managing construction on the city’s big Main Street redevelopment project, which significantly improved the appearance of downtown’s central corridor but took more than two years to complete.

He also saw the city shut down due to COVID and the shooting of Akron resident Jayland Walker by city police officers in June, followed by protests that kept parts of downtown shuttered even after the construction and pandemic had passed. Those last issues were not Horrigan’s fault, they note, but the buck always stops at the mayor’s office.

“He was definitely more open to meeting and talking. We would have liked to have seen a more developed plan for the downtown development,” said Welty CEO Don Taylor. “But there’s been a lot going on since he was mayor. Main Street was torn up for years, then we had COVID, then we had the protests; there were a lot of distractions. So, it’s been a bucking bronco for this mayor to ride.”

But Taylor gives Horrigan credit for helping to guide Bowery to its finish and, more importantly, for emphasizing the need for Akron to rebuild some of the population it has lost in recent decades and to incentivize people to build and live in town with a 15-year abatement on new construction and residential improvements.

“I think there’s a direct correlation between the activity we’ve seen and the incentive of the abatement,” Taylor said, “especially downtown in the central corridor.”

Dave Lieberth is known to many Akronites as a former broadcast journalist and to local leaders for 40 years of civic involvement and as a confidant and adviser to every mayor since he organized the inauguration of Tom Sawyer in 1984. He said Horrigan was the right mayor at the right time when he came to office following the turbulent final year of former Mayor Don Plusquellic in 2015 and the two mayors who replaced Plusquellic for very short periods.

“His temperament and personality made a huge impact,” Lieberth said. “City Hall was somewhat in disarray when he took office, having had three mayors in 45 days. … So first he had to stabilize everything, and he did.”

Lieberth said Horrigan had good years between 2016 and 2020, when he got the majority of his accomplishments done and repaired relationships within the city and between Akron and neighboring Cuyahoga Falls and Tallmadge. Lieberth hopes those achievements aren’t overshadowed by the COVID pandemic and downtown protests that have come since.

“I think he has a lot of accomplishments to his name. It’s like the Olympics. You have to take the high with the lows, and the low was certainly this year,” Lieberth said.

Lieberth also said Horrigan “moved the needle” when it comes to improving health care equity in Akron. But he believes the mayor’s standout accomplishments have been to reinvigorate residential development and to manage the city’s federally mandated sewer project, which originally had a price tag of $1.6 billion and now is expected to cost about $1.2 billion to complete.

Horrigan doesn’t get enough credit for shaving hundreds of millions of dollars from that bill, Lieberth maintains. Residents have been focused on increased sewer rates, but their rates are not higher than other Ohio cities and would be higher if the project had not been well-managed, Lieberth said.

He agrees that the Main Street construction took too long, and that when the long construction was followed by COVID shutdowns, it proved more than many downtown businesses could withstand.

But downtown has also seen significant investments, he said, and is improving as a place to live, visit and work.

“The Bowery Project simply would not have happened without him, so he gets an A+ on that. The Bowery lay fallow under the previous three mayors,” Lieberth said. “Also, Stark State built their Akron campus, and Summa built a $60 million tower. … For the first time in years, there are people walking dogs downtown.”

Of course, what’s important now is what will happen next: Who will be Akron’s next mayor, and what will be their priorities?

In business circles at least, there’s hope that the next mayor will continue to push for more residential development and population growth, while also addressing challenges such as finishing the sewer project and establishing a police-conduct review system that meets residents’ concerns.

Some in the business community already are beginning to support Marco Summerville, Akron’s deputy mayor who announced his candidacy Wednesday, Oct. 5, and was endorsed by Horrigan the next day.

“We have some good momentum on downtown housing, and that needs to continue. That’s an area where Marco will be valuable because he knows these developers and has worked with them many times,” said Bill Considine, a former president and CEO of Akron Children’s Hospital who remains a civic leader. “You need a person who knows how to play in the sandbox with others.”

But it’s early in the selection process, and other candidates, such as Akron City Councilman Shammas Malik, also may be strong contenders in the upcoming race — especially among more progressive Democrats.

Greater Akron Chamber president and CEO Steve Millard echoed others when he praised Horrigan for collaborating well with business and other civic leaders. Whoever becomes the next mayor needs to continue in that spirit, he said.

“It’s a big job that will take energy, ideas and a commitment to stay on track amidst a lot of potential distraction,” Millard said via email. “We need someone with a willingness to continue as an active leader and supporter of the collaborative work we are doing. We need someone that will manage a strong team of leaders within their administration and continue to look to a broader ecosystem of partners and collaborators to help set the vision and share in the work to be done.”

Jerry Fiume, managing director of SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Akron, said the collaborative spirit Horrigan brought to the mayor’s office needs to continue.

“I just came out of a meeting with a developer with two projects in Akron, and they love the collaboration they see here. That makes Akron look good,” Fiume said. “Hopefully, the next mayor will also be progressive and keep Akron moving forward.”

Fiume, like others, gives Horrigan high marks.

“It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback,” Fiume said. “But at the end of the day, he made things happen.”

Read more

By: Peter Ketter and Martina Takac

National Register of Historic Places

The Origins of The Bowery and South Main Street

The Bowery, a historical 12-story, 158-foot-tall landmark luxury apartment building, attracts residents with rushing waterfalls along the Ohio-Erie Canal, a walkable neighborhood with nearby businesses, restaurants, retail, the University of Akron, Akron Civic Theater, Lock 3, Rubber Ducks Stadium, and other cultural/entertainment venues. But do you know the history of South Main Street and the building, originally known as the Akron Savings & Loan Company, which served  as the cornerstone to downtown Akron?

When the Bowery District project began, the team’s goal was simple: to retransform Akron’s South Main Street back into a LIVE, WORK, PLAY destination. However, a larger goal also took shape: preserve and celebrate downtown Akron’s past. With these goals in mind, the buildings have all been adapted for modern usage while keeping historic details in place.

The origins of Akron’s Main Street are tied to the early development of the city’s canal system. In 1831, a small hydraulic canal was constructed through Main Street (formerly known as Water St.) to provide water power for future mills on the canal.

In the early 20th century, rapid growth in the U.S. transportation industry fed the economic growth of the rubber industry in Akron, which would come to be known as the “Rubber Capital of the World.” The rubber industry brought a diverse population of European immigrants and migrants from the Appalachian region and other states to Akron. Between 1910 and 1920, the rubber industry’s demand for employees increased Akron’s population by over 200%, reaching a total of 208,000 people. During this time period nearly $70 million in construction activities were recorded, including the mammoth year of 1919, in which 6,894 buildings were constructed at a cost of $27,219,436. Significant portions of this growth were concentrated in the city’s commercial district, which continued to expand to the south, with new offices, hotels, residential and retail establishments constructed along North and South Main Streets.

Following the end of World War I, a short but sharp national depression had a significant impact on the city’s rubber industry starting in the summer of 1920. This setback was reflected in downtown’s construction activity, which slowed considerably. Only one building in the South Main Street Historic District was constructed between 1920 and 1925, although it would have a significant impact on the street. The Akron Savings & Loan Building was designed by Alfred Hopkins (1870-1941) of New York and constructed in 1923.

Completion of the Akron Savings and Loan Building signaled the end of Akron’s brief lull in economic growth and building construction, and the city came roaring back in the second half of the 1920s. In fact, the city’s second major building boom – from 1925 to 1929 – would prove even larger than the first, with 28,417 structures constructed at a cost of $93,078,903.

By the end of the boom, four more buildings had been erected in the South Main Historic District and two additional buildings were under construction. These six buildings include some of the most significant in the district – O’Neil’s Department Store, Loew’s Theatre, A. Polsky Co., and the Mayflower Hotel – and would significantly transform the appearance and character of the district, as South Main Street developed into the primary center of Akron’s commercial activity.

During the city’s building booms, new methods of construction changed Akron’s skyline. The district evolved from narrow, deep commercial buildings four or fewer stories in height to include large-scale mid-rise buildings and one 16-story tower. The district’s buildings include several examples of vernacular commercial style buildings from the early 20th century, as well as highstyle Art Deco, Classical Revival and Renaissance Revival buildings designed by prominent local and national architects.

South Main Street has a rich history of both prosperity and decline, but we are happy to see the district once again vibrant and thriving!

By: DAN SHINGLER 

Crain’s Cleveland Business

First look at the new Crave restaurant in Akron

Despite the pandemic, Akron had a busy 2021.

It’s a bit like a Broadway show the week before the show opens at Crave‘s new location in downtown Akron‘s Bowery District.

Aaron Hervey and his crew only have a few days before the restaurant holds its soft opening next weekend, which begins with dinner Thursday, June 23.

That will give Hervey a chance to test his crew’s training in front of some known guests who are likely to be understanding if there are any snafus.

That will give Hervey a chance to test his crew’s training, which has been ongoing, so there aren’t any such incidents on Monday, June 27, when Crave opens for real.

So far, so good, Hervey said during a Friday, June 17, visit to check on his progress.

Stock is either on hand or on its way, and the tables, chairs, flatware and other dining instruments are ready. The stainless steel sculptures done by Akron artist John Comunale are in place, with the hand-blown light fixtures patrons will likely remember from Crave‘s original location on East Market Street hanging from them.

Even the staff is hired, Hervey said — all 38 of them. Well, almost, anyway.

“I think I’ll still need to hire one more cook,“ Hervey said. “But we’re ready.“

There will be a lot of eyes on the place as it begins business again after shutting down in its former location due to COVID, then deciding to move to the highest–profile development downtown.

Crave’s success will represent the Bowery‘s success as well — the restaurant is the first big retail tenant to sign on at the Bowery and has the most visible space on the first floor facing Main Street. It will also provide a sign as to the health of the downtown district generallyhttps://keyeez.com/how-to-start-blogging/, especially with regard to its nightlife.

Hervey, however, doesn‘t seem worried. He said he‘s had a lot of support from his former patrons, as well as downtown backers, and is confident Crave has landed in the right spot to become even bigger and better than it was before.

Read more

By: JENNIFER CONN | CLEVELAND

Spectrum News1

June 7, 2022

Akron History Center to open in 2023, ahead of city’s bicentennial celebration

AKRON, Ohio — Akron plans to open a $2 million museum-quality history center downtown in late 2023, ahead of the city’s 2025 bicentennial celebration.

The Akron History Center is expected to occupy the central building at the Bowery, a redeveloped stretch of historic buildings on South Main Street, framed by parks at Lock 3, Lock 4 and Lock 2 on the Ohio & Erie Canal.

Years in the making, the center becoming a reality is because of in large part to former deputy mayor and past Summit County Historical Society chairman David Lieberth.

Lieberth, who currently serves as executive secretary of the Akron Bicentennial Commission, first came up with a plan for an Akron museum 40 years ago, he said.

In 1982, Lieberth chaired an historical society committee looking into the potential for a museum dedicated to the rubber industry, which made Akron the “Rubber Capital of the World.”

After a year of interviewing prominent Akronites, the committee issued a report concluding a museum was needed, but should be undertaken in partnership with the historical society.

A museum also should include other examples of invention and innovation, as well as other industries that shaped the city, from rubber to oats, toys and farm machinery, Lieberth said.

That report came in handy a few years later, when the city successfully drew the Inventors Hall of Fame to Akron in 1987.

“This document helped us layout an exact plan for what might occur in Akron at the Inventors Hall of Fame,” he said. The report also helped companies looking for a place to warehouse corporate artifacts, which the historical society accepted.

In 2002, when Lieberth became deputy mayor, he helped launch an early version of a history center — an arcade-style museum at Lock 3 Park, he said.

Staffed by volunteers, the Akron Toy Marble Museum was in operation for the next 10 years.

In 2012, Lieberth retired as deputy mayor, but continued looking for the right location for a history center, he said.

That location surfaced recently when Lieberth was invited to the Bowery to have a closer look at the project, in which he has had strong interest.

The Bowery is in the heart of the city’s central business district, comprising the historic 12–story Landmark building and five smaller retail buildings, from 164 -184 South Main St.

Welty Building Co. President and CEO Don Taylor, who’s also a managing partner in the Bowery, told Lieberth Building D in the development is for nonprofit use only. He said the city holds a permanent easement on the building, whose sole purpose is to serve as a corridor for the public to move between South Main Street and Lock 4.

Taylor asked if Lieberth had ideas about what could go on the walls in that building, which Lieberth said he did.

“And that was the beginning of it,” Lieberth said.

By 2021, Lieberth had formed a history center steering committee, which was up and running, through a planning grant from the GAR Foundation, he said. The first thing the committee looked at was the feasibility of establishing such a center in a century-old building.

Everything had been renovated except the floors, which had to remain original per the historic tax credits.

“So on the main street level, we have these gorgeous terrazzo floors, which are the first artifacts to be displayed,” he said.

With 3,000 square feet of exhibit space over three floors, the Akron History Center committee enlisted the expertise of Dennis and Kathy Barrie, known for their hand in development of the International Spy Museum, the Mob Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage and many others.

“Their opinion was that this was an ideal site for a permanent Akron history exhibit,” he said. “They’ve now been engaged as our exhibit designers.”

Canal Fulton-based CEI, a brand–experience company, has also been enlisted, Lieberth said,

“So these are two local, but quite prominent nationally, firms that we’ve engaged to get this project done,” Lieberth said.

Akron City Council recently allocated $450,000 toward the center, which leaves $1.5 million to be raised, he said.

Lieberth has initial outlines ready of what should be included in the center, which will be operated by the Akron-Summit County Public Library, he said.

Exhibits will include an array of artifacts, such as those found along the Portage Path representing the indigenous population, he said.

Exhibits will represent everything from construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal by Irish immigrants to artifacts from Quaker Oats Co., which operated in the city until 1970.

Famous Akronites will be represented, he said, such as NASA astronaut Judith Resnik, who was born in Akron and died in 1986 when the Challenger exploded.

The history center also will include information on the rise of Ku Klux Klan and race riots in the city, one which burnt down city hall, he said.

“There are some unpleasant aspects of Akron history, which we will also look at for context so that people know can know all the history,” Lieberth said.

Because of space constraints, the center will feature flat screens to extend exhibits, and exhibits will occasionally be rotated, he said.

Read more