By Betty Lin-Fisher
Beacon Journal business writer
May 21, 2009
Downtown Akron will get its first new office building in eight years when KeyBank breaks ground today for a branch and regional headquarters.
The site, currently vacant land, is at South Main Street and University Avenue, across the street from Lock 3 Park.
The small piece of land has been vacant since at least 1988, according to Mark Williamson, city spokesman. The city sold the land, which once held People's Drug store, to the developer for the project, he said.
A 21,000-square-foot, three-story glass and metal building will be constructed into the hill at the site, said Robert T. Abramovich, vice president of development for the Terra Group.
Terra Group is a Brecksville-based developer that will construct and own the building, to be named the KeyBank Center. It is the only property Terra Group will own in downtown Akron.
KeyBank will use the entire building and house a new 7,000-square-foot branch on the first floor as well as offices for the Eastern Ohio Region and KeyBank private bankers, said Tom Tulodzieski, president of KeyBank's Eastern Ohio Region, which includes Akron, Canton and Youngstown. There will also be a covered bridge from the building into the Summit County parking deck for employees and customers.
KeyBank will move out of its existing facility that it rents one block over at Bowery and South Main by the fall of 2010.
''We really had grown out of this facility,'' said Tulodzieski. Bank officials began looking a few years ago at vacant office spaces in downtown Akron, he said.
Eventually, officials decided it would work better to have a new building to house the entire KeyBank regional headquarters and other downtown staffers. (The private banker group is now in the former O'Neil's building.) Tulodzieski said about 45 to 50 employees will use the new building.
''We're really excited at Key to be staying downtown. We felt it was very, very important to stay downtown and to be a part of some of the exciting things happening here,'' he said.
Both Tulodzieski and Abramovich declined to say how much the new building would cost, but city records show that it is a $3 million project.
The new building will be the first office structure built in downtown Akron since the SummaCare building on South Main and Market streets in 2001, said Williamson.
In a news release, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said downtown continues to be the heart of the business community.
''There are 31,000 people employed in downtown businesses, and KeyBank's decision . . . is great news for downtown, area businesses and the community as a whole,'' Plusquellic said.
Also in a news release, Summit County Executive Russ Pry said, ''KeyBank is dedicated to downtown Akron, Summit County and beyond. Key's presence is felt in the city and the suburbs because the company and its employees are committed to making the Akron area a better place for all of us to live and work.''
KeyBank has 19 branches in Summit County, including six in the city of Akron. The Eastern Ohio Division has 41 branches.
The new lobby branch will be 4,000 square feet larger than the existing branch, though the appearance of the current branch seems large because there are high ceilings and executive offices on the mezzanine, Tulodzieski said.
Today, Tulodzieski, Plusquellic and Pry will join some schoolchildren who will blow a foghorn to have an excavator begin construction. Actual construction will begin within a few weeks.
It is unknown what might replace the KeyBank offices at its existing building. A call placed to Bowery Management was not returned.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com.
