Newspaper building in Ohio could face demo

A downtown Akron, Ohio, office building that has stood since about 1929 could be on borrowed time, with city officials asking the building owner to proceed with renovation plans.

The building on Exchange Street hosted newspaper offices in Akron from about 1930 until 2019, when the Akron Beacon-Journal moved its operations.

An early February Beacon-Journal report says its former home has been granted a reprieve from demolition by the Akron preservation commission.

However, the owner of the 230,000-square-foot building has acknowledged losing an expected tenant for the building, calling into question its ability to generate revenue.

The building owner and his architect told the commission that although $2 million has been invested in the building in the early part of this decade, “time has not been kind to the building,” according to the Beacon-Journal.

The city commission delayed by 90 days a scheduled early-February vote on authorizing demolition of the building, based in part on a proposal to convert the former newspaper office building into residential units. Another potential new project involves an unnamed office tenant with an interest in the property.

A building preservation advocate quoted by the newspaper expressed opposition to the notion that if the building is taken down, the current redevelopment plans call only for the land to become a parking lot.