The demolition of the familiar round building with a white roof in downtown Akron will begin today.
It will make way for parking as Akron developer Anthony Manna describes the area as a hub for financial and business activity. Manna is creating a campus of his businesses in the area and has purchased a second nearby building to add to the project.
The building at East Market and Broadway has been vacant since March 2009, when the former Ohio Savings Bank branch, first opened in 1975, was closed.
In December 2009, federal regulators shut down the former Ohio Savings Bank, which had been doing business as AmTrust bank. New York Community Bank assumed the deposits of AmTrust and operated Ohio Savings branches as a division of its bank. The FDIC retained the other assets and sold the downtown building to Manna.
Manna said there was a lot involved in buying the former bank from the FDIC.
Manna said he did not entertain the thought of reusing the circular building, which is the neighbor of his law firm, Brennan, Manna & Diamond. He has said for years he would look forward to tearing it down.
“To be completely frank, I didn’t like it. It has not stood the test of time. It clearly was from the ’70s and looked like a spaceship,” Manna said Wednesday. “I see absolutely no architectural significance to that building other than it’s just round.”
Kevin Belt, project manager for Manna’s Signet Enterprises, an investment and development firm, said an excavator will begin tearing down the building at midday today and demolition will take two to three days.
It will take a few more days to break up the bank’s vault, which has 2-foot-thick concrete walls. Then some grading and filling will take place, with completion by next weekend, Belt said. It will be paved for a parking lot by late August or early September.
The approximately one-acre plot will have about 40 parking spaces, badly needed for the approximately 120 people who will be working at two buildings nearby, Manna said. A business sign for the firms using the buildings will also anchor the corner of Market and Broadway.
The law firm and its employees will remain in the former Carnegie Building at High and Market.
In June, Manna purchased the neighboring building, a former East Ohio Gas operation at 19 N. High St. It houses the law firm Blakemore, Meeker & Bowler. The price was about $600,000.
Employees of Signet Enterprises and Integrated Wellness Partners LLC, a for-profit venture formed last year between Signet and Akron General Health System to develop health and wellness centers, will use the High Street building. Blakemore, Meeker & Bowler will remain on the second floor for one to two years before Signet and Integrated Wellness take over the entire building, Manna said.
The building will need what Manna calls serious renovations to both the exterior and interior.
Work will include removing low ceiling tiles and exposing ductwork for a modern feel. The renovations will be done in two phases and the Blakemore, Meeker, Bowler employees will remain during the work. Signet employees will move in to the first floor by the end of November.
The real presence will be on High Street, Manna said. The razing of the former Ohio Savings building means the back of the High Street building will be visible.
Manna said the total investment for all the projects will be $4 million. Part of the project included a deal Manna made with Akron. City Council in April agreed to forgive the remainder of the mortgage on Manna’s law firm building and in exchange, Manna will keep the firm in Akron and maintain at least 60 employees for 15 years. He also pledged to invest the savings into his campus plan, paid about $639,000 and gave the city a parking lot on the east side of North Summit Street near Park Street.
Manna bought the law firm building from the city in 1999, and had paid about $2 million in principal and interest while still owing $2.3 million.
“We want to invest in downtown. We'll take the savings and plow them into the buildings,” he said.
Robert Meeker said his law firm doesn’t have a plan after its lease is up, but will stay in Akron. The firm has had some changes and cutbacks, so it needs only one floor for its 12 employees.
Business writer Betty Lin-Fisher can be contacted at 330-996-3724 or by email at blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com.