The digging won't begin in earnest until April, but a foot of snow was cleared to make room for a few ceremonial shovels of dirt at a dignitary-studded groundbreaking ceremony for Bridgestone Americas' new $100 million technical center in Akron.
''These are exciting times,'' said Mark Emkes, who recently announced he will be retiring as company chairman, chief executive officer and president.
''This new technical center should be a catalyst for revitalization of the Firestone Park neighborhood. It will keep high-paying, high-tech jobs here in Akron, it gives our teammates a wonderful place to work, and our customers a world-class place to visit,'' he said.
Emkes, who has been with Firestone and its successor owner Bridgestone for 33 years, called Thursday's gathering ''a once-in-a-lifetime event that signals another great step forward for our company. . . . I feel like I've come full circle.''
The crowd included company representatives from Tokyo, Japan; Nashville, Tenn.; and Akron, as well as Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, Summit County Executive Russ Pry, legislators Tom Sawyer, Betty Sutton and Tim Ryan, and Summit County Port Authority President Chris Burnham.
All played a role in putting together a financial package that kept about 1,000 jobs in Akron at a time when Bridgestone was hinting that its research and development offices could move elsewhere.
Emkes said it's appropriate for the company's innovative efforts to remain in the town where Harvey Firestone launched his company more than a century ago.
''From the first nonskid tread to the Firestone balloon tire, some of the most creative innovative concepts in the tire industry have come from behind those doors and down the street at our technical center,'' Emke said from a podium in the lobby of the current tech center on South Main Street.
The new tech center will be on the same property, currently marked by survey posts that are peeking out of the snow.
''What new tire technologies will our teammates think of next? I don't know, but I do know it will happen here. We've been doing it here for more than a century. We helped put the world on wheels,'' Emke said.
Gov. Strickland added that facilities like the tech center help put Akron on the map for more than designing tires.
The ''incomparable technical know-how'' from historic Akron tire companies like Goodyear, B.F. Goodrich, General Tire and the former Firestone ''has fed unparalleled scientific work on rubber, polymers and material science,'' he said.
''In breaking ground for this new technical center, Bridgestone is building on Akron's storied history.''
If all goes well, the 260,000-square-foot facility should be finished by the end of 2011, with 600 or more employees moving in.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/paulaschleis.
