There’s now a formal process for developers to propose a project that would preserve part of the historic Firestone Plant #1. But the City of Akron’s timeline shortens the amount of time developers have to come up with ideas — City Council members set an original deadline of Nov. 21 — and sets a minimum purchase price of $5 million.
The $5 million price tag would be used to replace a State of Ohio demolition grant that was meant to tear down the building and that could be lost if the 115-year-old structure isn’t demolished by a state deadline for spending that money.
This is the second recent project the city has taken this tack for. The other is the Bowen School building, which had a minimum purchase price of $800,000 in order to replace state demolition money if the project isn’t completed…