Ex-BFGoodrich complex could be used as example at Goodyear headquarters
by Jim Mackinnon, Beacon Journal business writer
As Akron ponders whether the current Goodyear headquarters will be redeveloped in upcoming years into a Canal Place-like complex, the original Canal Place off South Main Street says it is doing well.
On Wednesday, the city of Akron, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and developer Stuart Lichter said they are exploring building new headquarters for Goodyear in Akron and then redeveloping Goodyear's existing headquarters for other uses. The project depends on whether the finances come together in what was called a ``nine figures'' deal.
Meanwhile, Canal Place on the other side of the city says it is healthy and watching tenants grow.
The 12-building, 27-acre complex is close to 80 percent leased, said Steve Stoner, facilities manager for the former B.F. Goodrich site. About 3,000 people work there, he said.
``We're also looking to do some expansion on the south side of the property,'' Stoner said.
Jesse Hurst, a partner in the financial planning firm The Millennial Group, said his business is close to finishing negotiations on a new six-year lease. The Millennial Group has been at what is known as Building 25, the former Goodrich headquarters at 520 S. Main St., for 10 years.
``We're obviously happy enough that we're planning on staying there another six years,'' Hurst said. Rent is less than what his firm would have to pay elsewhere, and the complex does a good, responsive job maintaining the facilities, he said.
Among the companies expanding at Canal Place is AMR-American Medical Response, which also has been a tenant for 10 years, according to Alice Hall, Canal Place marketing director.
Time Warner Cable has added 125 positions at its Canal Place headquarters in the past year, Hall said.
For the past nine years, Time Warner Cable has expanded its operation at Canal Place, where it now has more than 350 employees, said company spokeswoman Heidi Mock. Time Warner Cable Northeast Ohio/Western Pennsylvania Division calls Akron its headquarters and maintains its satisfaction with the Canal Place facility based on its accessible location and city backdrop, she said.
Ken Roberts, the former administrator of Canal Place who now runs real estate consulting firm KM Quality Management Inc. in Canal Fulton, remembers working to woo Time Warner Cable to the complex.
Roberts said when he came on board in 1992, Canal Place was still run-down.
The site was saved from being demolished when it was bought in 1988 by Covington Capital Corp., a partnership that includes Lichter's California-based Industrial Realty Group and Huntington Development Group.
At that point, Canal Place was primarily envisioned for industrial warehouse use. But Roberts said the complex needed to be made more tenant- and lease-friendly.
The idea behind Canal Place is called ``adaptive re-use,'' where buildings designed and erected in an earlier era are positioned to compete now, he said.
In this case, it meant taking what essentially had been B.F. Goodrich's city-within-a-city -- that at one point employed 23,000 people -- and finding new and better uses, Roberts said.
The industrial-strength floors of the B.F. Goodrich complex were ideal for high-tech companies that need support for such things as heavy batteries, Roberts said. That helped lead to marketing Canal Place to technology companies. Adding fiber-optic cable to enable businesses to have fast computer networks also helped recruit tenants.
``When we came in, it had a very low occupancy level,'' Robert said. ``If you had a pulse, you were qualified to move into the building.''
But that led to such things as an attorney's office next to a noisy carpentry shop, making both tenants unhappy, Roberts said. They made changes so that like businesses were clustered around each other, he said, ``so carpenter shops would be moved next to carpenter shops.''
And Roberts said he succeeded in persuading Time Warner Cable to take a chance on Canal Place.
``We converted an industrial complex over to an office use,'' he said.
CANAL PLACE AT A GLANCE
A look at what happened to the former B.F. Goodrich complex:
