AKRON, Ohio — Time could be running out on a rich piece of history in the Rubber City.
City of Akron leaders are pushing for the demolition of the former Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. Plant 1 building located at 1200 Firestone Parkway.
However, some preservation and historic groups are pushing back and trying to save the building, which was built in 1910 as a factory and office. It has been vacant for about 10 years.
The debate went before Akron city council members during a special hearing Thursday afternoon.
A written decision by the city council, which could determine if a demolition goes forward, is expected within 15 days of the hearing.
The building, which is more than 230,000 square feet, has issues of disrepair, including broken and boarded-up windows. In addition, there are problems with trespassers and metal scrappers.
But to Dana Noel, a board member with the Akron-based group Progress Through Preservation, the factory, with its eight-story clock tower, is special to Akron.
In 2013, it became an Akron Historic Landmark and was added in 2014 to the National Register of Historic Places.
"Akron's all about the rubber industry," Noel said. "It's a compass point in people's lives and so once you tear it down, the memory tends to go with it."
In August, the Akron Urban Design and Historic Preservation Commission rejected a proposal by the city to tear down the building.
The city appealed, leading to the latest hearing. During the hearing in council chambers, Akron leaders stressed it would need $5 million more to preserve a portion of the building rather than tear down the whole thing.
Akron Zoning Manager Mike Antenucci also told council about damage to the clock tower itself.
"The upper clock tower has half-inch and larger cracks from water intrusion and freeze-and-thaw," Antenucci said.
City engineer Travis Capper said a structural engineering firm was hired to look at many options, including the cost to save just the clock tower. The city deemed that it was also too expensive.
"They recommended not even keeping the clock tower and to demolish that. Now, anything can be done with an amount of money, but it was far and beyond what we were looking at, so we deemed that infeasible," Capper said.
Mark Smith, who is part of the Akron Urban Design and Historic Preservation Commission, told council that more marketing should be done to look at ways to reuse the former Firestone plant. He gave several ideas.
"Restaurants, cafes, gym, fitness center, drive-thru beverage store, butcher, barber shop, hair salon, dry cleaners," Smith said.
City officials have said environmental concerns would limit the property's future to industrial or commercial usage, prohibiting residences, schools, hospitals or day cares from being built on the site.
Summit County Council member Jeff Wilhite also spoke at the hearing and asked Akron City Council members to "pump the brakes" on a demo decision, stressing the building still means a lot to many residents.
"The more we make a blank, homogenized look to the city, it's to our detriment," Wilhite said.
Noel agrees and feels there needs to be a more thoughtful analysis before making a decision, instead of what he calls "a rush job."
"If Akron, or communities, are tearing down everything that's in their communities and that defines their personality, then what's the point?" he said.
