The city of Akron plans to request more development proposals for the former Akron Public Schools headquarters building near the All-America Bridge after a boutique hotel plan from two private developers fell through.
City officials are planning to issue a new request for proposals for the 70 N. Broadway site this summer, “hopefully by the end of July,” city spokeswoman Stephanie Marsh said via email. The city is not currently eyeing demolition, she said.
The city posted its first request for proposals for the property last August and welcomed interested developers and media for a tour of the roughly 48,000-square-foot building the following month.
Peninsula-based developer Walter Zielinski was among those touring the building, built in 1916. He walked portions of the building with a Beacon Journal reporter and photographer, pointing out where he saw potential opportunities and challenges with a redevelopment.
Zielinski expressed his interest in the property to city officials and talked with them about a potential building purchase to create a boutique hotel, he shared via text with a Beacon Journal reporter last fall.
Developers saw promise in the site but ultimately bowed out
Zielinski and Marsh confirmed this week that plans to transform the vacant building into a boutique hotel fizzled out.
Zielinski said his decision with business partner David Ferris to abandon their planned purchase of the city-owned building for $800,000 “broke my heart.”
“It was just cost-prohibitive for us, and the risk was too great,” Zielinski said. He added that he and Ferris, both with Green Iron Inc., notified the city in April that they decided not to buy the building.
Zielinski estimated it would have cost the team about $17.2 million to redevelop the 48,000-square-foot facility into a boutique hotel, complete with a ballroom, kitchen and restaurant.
Marsh said via email that the city provided Zielinski several months beyond an initial mid-November deadline for him to acquire the funding he needed and to sign a purchase agreement.
Addressing the potential of someone else redeveloping the building, Zielinski said, “I would love if they reopened it again because someone really should save that building,”
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal’s business and consumer newsletter, “What’s The Deal?”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Former Akron Public Schools headquarters is on the market again
Reporting by Patrick Williams, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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