A downtown Akron landmark disappeared quietly this winter.
Oh, to be sure, the former West Arcade building probably made one heck of a noise when the ProQuality Demolition crew began knocking it down with heavy machinery in December.
But many people haven’t noticed the city’s newest empty lot because there is no passing traffic at 80 W. Bowery St. That block has been a dead end for more than a year due to a bridge replacement project.
‘Handsome building’ opened in 1950
The four-story, brick-and-steel building opened in 1950 as Eighty West Bowery, a retail-and-office complex a block west of Ohio Bell Telephone Co. and across the street from the Central Akron YMCA…