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Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
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Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
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Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
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Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
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OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
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Four area football teams play tonight
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Headed For Disaster
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Will Health Care Reform Pass?
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Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
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Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
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Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
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Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Goodyear is staying; new HQ to be built
By Phil Trexler
and Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal staff writers
Published on Thursday, Dec 06, 2007
Out there among the corporate tombstones of the Firestones, B.F. Goodriches and General Tires came news that the one company that truly defined Akron as America's Rubber City is staying home.
Another generation will be left to judge the financial impact of the $900 million dream of Dec. 5, 2007.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the key component to one of the city's most ambitious development plans ever, ended months of speculation with its announcement Wednesday that it will remain in Akron.
''There was a day when our community took for granted companies large and small. You know, they're here, they're always going to be here. But the world has changed,'' Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said.
''So, when a Fortune 500 company today that can operate literally anywhere in the world with technology makes an announcement that they're recommitting to their community, it is a great day in Akron.''
As part of a seven-year development project, the world's third-largest tire maker, behind Japanese-owned Bridgestone Corp. and French-based Michelin, will sell its East Akron headquarters complex to a California developer, who in turn will build Goodyear a new headquarters on Martha Avenue.
It is a move designed to keep Goodyear, its international presence and its 2,900 workers in Akron for decades.
Expected to be completed as soon as 2010, the new world and North American tire headquarters will be leased from Industrial Realty Group of California. It is a 20-year lease followed by 11, five-year renewal options held by Goodyear.
Terms between Goodyear and IRG were not released.
IRG, in turn, intends to buy and refurbish Goodyear's old digs along East Market Street and River Road. The developers have visions of new offices, a hotel, shopping, housing and more amenities, including an indoor ice-skating rink.
Retail complex planned
In addition, IRG is determined to bring a town center-type retail complex to the East Akron area along Martha Avenue.
Partly upscale retail with ornate streets and sidewalks, partly traditional ''big box'' stores, it could also have two hotels, restaurants, a cinema and a riverwalk park and bike trail along the Little Cuyahoga River to a largely undeveloped east side of town adjacent to Interstate 76.
Developers Stu Lichter and Christopher Semarjian say the project will come in four phases, the first of which begins with construction of Goodyear's headquarters in 2008 and ending with the East Market Street development and related projects that could stretch to 2014.
In the meantime, local government will be ready as needed to install roads, bridges, parks, bike trails and other infrastructure.
Lichter called Wednesday's announcement, with all of its complexity and one-year time constraints, the result of a collective effort of public and private interests.
''From dream to reality in one year, on something as complex as this, is virtually impossible,'' he said. ''Dreams do come true and this is a good day for Akron.''
IRG's financial commitment is huge: $700 million. That figure includes purchasing most of Goodyear's real estate in Akron, refurbishing those facilities, building Goodyear's new headquarters and developing the retail components of the project.
Akron comes next in line in terms of dollars, offering $101 million, most of which will come through tax incremental financing (TIF), a process that diverts a portion of property taxes to pay for improvements such as roads, bridges, water and sewer works.
As part of its commitment, the city will contribute about 20 acres that came from its purchase this fall of 21 homes off Seiberling Street. Three properties are being pursued through negotiations and eminent domain.
Earlier this week, Ohio announced it was kicking in $30 million in savings from the commercial activities tax, plus a $20 million low-cost loan. It has also pledged a $10 million capital grant.
Summit County has committed $15 million in the form of five-year, zero interest rate bonds to repay the state loan.
Authorities hope to obtain $15 million in federal dollars to assist in the project. Another $5 million has been earmarked from local private interests. And finally, IRG has been offered an $11 million sales tax savings from the county.
Grand announcement
Wednesday's announcement came in grand fashion inside Goodyear's Technical Center, where large windows offered a view of the snow-covered ground expected to soon hold the company's new headquarters.
The company has been in Akron since 1898 and some of its buildings are nearly as old. Goodyear, historians say, is the last symbol of the days when all of the world's major tire makers called Akron home.
Bob Keegan, Goodyear's chairman and chief executive, said the company had remained focused on staying in Akron ever since talks of Goodyear's future developed in April.
Company officials say the tire maker gave Akron until the end of the year to present its offer. They say they had been approached by representatives in Arizona, North Carolina and Virginia.
But they said Akron's offer was so strong, it was not necessary to talk to the Southern cities.
They also said leasing their facilities will allow them to focus on their business and drop concerns of maintaining their own home. Although they would not get specific, Goodyear officials also said breaking the lease at some point down the road would prove ''financially disastrous.''
The agreement in principle reached and approved by Goodyear's board of directors this week ''will keep the company's worldwide headquarters in Akron for decades to come,'' Keegan said.
Deal must close
He described the deal between Goodyear and IRG as tentative, only because the deal has yet to close. It is expected to be finalized in 60 days, once all the funding is completed.
Akron City Council and Summit County Council will be asked next week to approve the first phases of the plan.
Keegan said the new corporate facilities will help the company attract and retain key employees and will be ''conducive to the needs of a modern business and for what is a highly competitive global marketplace.''
Keegan said the design of the new headquarters will reflect an emphasis on teamwork and integration.
It will also mean the end of ''Mahogany Row,'' the dark, wood-paneled wing where the top executives have worked for decades, he said.
''This (new place) won't be that,'' he said.
The retail development and hotels are a major part of the project because Goodyear wants a community around its new headquarters, Semarjian said.
He said IRG's marketing studies show there is demand for the kind of retailers they expect to bring in. The company has hired a firm called Bear Creek, a Cincinnati consultant, to help recruit retailers. They would not name any potential suitors.
Lichter and IRG know Northeast Ohio well. The developer, which specializes in revitalizing aging industrial sites, has owned or been involved in other substantial properties in the area, including Canal Place (the former B.F. Goodrich complex in downtown Akron) and the Lockheed Martin facilities at Akron Fulton International Airport. In addition, IRG expects to close on the former Hoover Co. campus in North Canton in two weeks.
Joe Gingo, an Akron native and Goodyear executive vice president and chief technical officer, is credited with helping forge the alliance between the company, IRG and the government.
''This project has been called the most ambitious development effort in the history of the city of Akron, and this announcement represents a tremendous and truly historic success,'' Gingo said.
The announcement was attended by a throng of elected and appointed government officials, along with Goodyear workers and executives.
Gov. Ted Strickland hailed the decision as a ''great win'' for Akron and Ohio.
''This is good for the company, it's great for the city, but it is wonderful for the state of Ohio,'' Strickland said.
Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher said the financial package is an example of how a deal should be done, a partnership that will ''serve as a model for the rest of our administration about how economic development should be done.''
''Economic development should be done in a way that there is no landlord-tenant relationship where the government's the landlord and the business is the tenant,'' he said. ''It needs to be a risk-sharing, collaborative partnership, and that's exactly what this is.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com. Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Out there among the corporate tombstones of the Firestones, B.F. Goodriches and General Tires came news that the one company that truly defined Akron as America's Rubber City is staying home.
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