Some of the highlights of the happenings in the greater Akron area are as follows:

 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company - New HQ 

            The tire and rubber giant, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company's commitment to staying in Akron by having their new World Headquarters constructed along with the adjacent proposed retail and hotel development is terrific for the city and surrounding areas. This will be made possible by an unusual public-private partnership. A California based real estate investment group will take over Goodyear's current buildings and in turn erect a new headquarters building, along with additional commercial space, and then lease the facility back to them. There will be tax incentives and infrastructure improvements that have been committed by both State and local governments to help finalize this deal. That incentive package has been valued at around fifty million dollars. In addition, a redevelopment program approaching one billion dollars is planned that will refurbish the existing buildings for other uses and include the creation of "Akron Riverwalk" which will be a mix of retail, restaurant, office, and hotel properties. Let's not forget the +/-3,000 jobs that are reportedly saved by this deal and the promised job creation in the future.

Some full articles/opinions worth reading on Goodyear's new HQ are found at the fowing links:

http://edesposito.blogspot.com/2007/12/akrons-real-good-year.html , http://www2.nccommerce.com/eclipsfiles/18192.pdf , and http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2007/12/goodyear_expected_to_announce.html

 The University of Akron - Expansion

            We are all watching the construction project on East Exchange Street and eagerly awaiting the 2009 grand opening of the new stadium that is being built on the campus of the University of Akron. The Zips will play their home football and soccer games in the new 60+ million dollar Summa Field at Infocision Stadium. It will seat a reported 30,000 people and will be complete with club level seating, open-air loge seats, private suites, a President's Suite, 300 ADA seats, numerous heated ADA restrooms, new scoreboard with video, and much more. Sadly, this is the final year for Akron U. football played in the Rubber Bowl. Although it is tough to bid it farewell to a venue with a storied history, we are truly excited about bringing the action onto campus where it belongs. Having a state-of-the-art venue like this will bring the excitement of football game-day to the students on campus and help attract more businesses to the surrounding area. The stadium is part of the University's New Landscape for Learning campus enrichment initiatives.

            These initiatives include adding many new dorm rooms via the Exchange Street Residence Hall and the acquisition of Quaker Square complex last fall. The University will continue to operate half of the hotel rooms under the new name Quaker Square Inn at The University of Akron. Their plans include using the balance of the hotel rooms as a residence hall. The retail shops will remain open and they plan to honor the office tenant's contracts. They plan to preserve Quaker Square's historic cultural and architectural integrity as it becomes a part of the University of Akron's campus.

            The Southwest part of campus is getting a facelift too. A twenty-five million dollar student housing and retail development is in the works on South Main Streets. The former Jillian's and Brubaker's buildings were purchased in February for $4.25 million by a private developer planning an apartment building with two to four bedroom student apartments. They are reportedly planning on having retail space on the Main Street level. This new project will be facilitated by the City's recent purchase of the former Akron Board of Realtors building which will make way for much needed parking.

See the following links for more details...

On Infocision Stadium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Field_at_InfoCision_Stadium  and http://www.uakron.edu/stadium/stadiumView.php

On the Quaker Square Complex: http://www.uakron.edu/news/articles/uamain_1891.php

On the new Campus Apartment Project: http://www.downtownakron.com/feature/detail.asp?ID=163 

Here is the LINK to Part 1 of my Akron Series Blog: http://activerain.com/blogsview/631507/The-Akron-OH-Commercial

Much more to come, stay tuned...