A Stark County-based developer is in talks to repurpose Akron’s historic Firestone building, which is currently slated for demolition unless a new use is found by mid-November.
Steve Coon, owner of Coon Restoration, has renovated and owns dozens of buildings in Downtown Canton.
The 110-year-old Firestone Plant 1 is structurally sound, and he’s interested in saving it, Coon told Ideastream Public Media Tuesday.
“It’s as solid as solid can be. It doesn’t need to be torn down,” Coon said. “If they’ve got the intestinal fortitude, I’d be glad to help out on my end. It’s a great building.”
Coon would like to convert parts of the building, the former headquarters of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, into apartments, he said. He hopes to resolve environmental restrictions — an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency — that have kept the property from residential use in the past, he said.
“Talk about bringing back a neighborhood. I mean, you could do all kinds of things,” Coon said. “Maybe, the first couple of floors — don’t do housing, do housing on the top three and indoor parking … it’s a structural fortress. It would be a shame to tear that down.”
Akron community members have called for the city to salvage the front section of the building, which includes a clock tower that’s seen by some as a symbol of the city’s industrial past.
City planning officials said they don’t want to lose the $7.5 million already secured to demolish the structure, and they’d like to use the land for new industrial development.
Last month, Akron City Council approved demolition on the condition that the city’s planning department take 60 days to find an alternative use.
An Akron City Council member confirmed to Ideastream Public Media that Coon toured the building a few weeks ago. The city’s planning department is holding a tour of the property this month for any other developers interested, according to a news release issued last week.
Planning officials are set to give an update on the status of the Firestone building during council’s planning and economic development committee meeting on Oct. 20.
Cities can meet housing demand through historic preservation
Coon was a featured speaker Tuesday at the Heritage Ohio Annual Conference, held in various buildings across Downtown Canton this week.
Historic preservationists like Coon are encouraging cities across Ohio to repurpose existing historic buildings to meet the increasing demand for residential housing.
That was the focus of Coon’s presentation inside the historic Onesto Event Center.
The Onesto is a 1930s-era hotel that sat vacant for 30 years and was at risk for demolition, Coon said. Coon and his team renovated the building, which now serves as an event center with loft apartments.
Large, vacant buildings like this can often be converted into residential space, Coon said.
“Every city in Ohio used to be two or three times larger than it is right now — they’ve all shrunk, but the infrastructure didn’t shrink,” Coon said. “Why take a couple thousand acres of farmland and move infrastructure out there and build these throwaway buildings when you‘ve got a really historic downtown that you can capitalize on?”
Renovating historic buildings into apartments can spark economic development across the city, Coon added.
“It’s always market-rate housing. That’s always the answer,” Coon said. “You need people with disposable income, living downtown, and then everything else will come — the specialty shops, a restaurant, those small offices. It’s really downtown housing, it’s not the chicken or the egg.”
Coon encouraged developers to utilize federal and state tax credits and create historic districts.
Coon gave remarks alongside Jonathan Sandvick of Cleveland-based Sandvick Architects. The conference brings together developers, business owners and historians to share takeaways on reviving downtowns through preserving historic buildings, said Heritage Ohio Executive Director Matt Wiederhold.
Canton is a prime example of how restoring old buildings can spark economic development and help preserve a city’s heritage, he said.
“These historic structures are more than just old buildings. They are the identity of the history of that community,” Wiederhold said. “They were built by people who perhaps founded or invested in that community, and they stand as landmarks to the past.”
The conference runs through Oct. 16.
