Want to get a piece of, or at least a peek at, Goodyear’s famed Mahogany Row suite of top executive offices?
You’ll have what could be the last public opportunity today to walk through Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s old executive offices and lots of other places at the tire maker’s former corporate complex off East Market Street.
Everything inside — all the furniture, fixtures and more spread out among 2 million square feet of space — has gotta go and will be auctioned off starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The auction takes place in the 1,500-seat Goodyear theater in Goodyear Hall.
Springfield resident Jeff Lewis, a retired Holland truck driver, late Monday morning walked through the former chairman/chief executive offices at Mahogany Row with its hand-carved wood.
Lewis said the previous times he’s been to Goodyear’s corporate headquarters was when he was driving a truck.
“First time in the nicer part,” Lewis quipped. “It’s gorgeous. It is gorgeous. Sure was nice to have money back then. ... You don’t see anything like this in new buildings. Nothing to compare. Yeah, this is beautiful.”
If you want to buy any of the Mahogany Row furniture, up to and including the large conference table in the chairman’s meeting room, now is your chance.
The public can walk around Goodyear Hall and the former corporate headquarters from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today to inspect the items for sale in all of the rooms. There are lots of security guards to keep an eye on things.
“It’s definitely the biggest auction we’ve done as far as furniture goes,” said Justin Gunther, supervisor for North Carolina-based auction company Asset Sales Inc. Gunther said his company typically specializes in machine shop auctions. The Goodyear auction involves far more than furniture.
There is woodworking and metal-working machinery, kitchen and cafeteria equipment. There’s a piano. Ice machines. Exercise equipment. Floor scrubbers. Entire workspace cubicles. A “walk-in spray booth with explosion-proof lights.” Maytag washers and dryers. Coffee makers. And lots more.
It’s a long, long list.
“We’ll get a good crowd,” Gunther said. “We did a lot of advertising.”
It’s likely other businesses will be bidding for much of the stuff for them to use or to resell, he said. For instance, Asset Sales is hoping to sell the cubicles in lots of 100 to 200 units, he said.
Goodyear is keeping much of its historical and valuable pieces, including “Protect Our Good Name” lettering and stained glass used to decorate the executive offices. Those items will be used at the company’s new corporate headquarters a half-mile away off Innovation Way that was officially dedicated last week.
Bidders do not have to appear in person since the auction will also be made available online.
Once all the items are sold and removed, that will leave lots of open space for developer Stuart Lichter at Industrial Realty Group to begin renovating the properties for a new use later this year. Lichter, who owns the 480-acre East Akron campus, intends to turn Goodyear Hall into residential and retail space while retaining the theater and large gymnasium.
The former corporate headquarters will be repurposed into office space and plans call for a restaurant.
Emptied-out Mahogany Row will remain largely intact. But instead of holding movers and shakers in the tire industry, the leasing agent for IRG has said the space appears to make the most sense as a law office-type setting.
To check out the Goodyear chairman/CEO Mahogany Row items, look for lot numbers 605 through 607. You can view them online by going to www.asset-sales.com. (The online auction site mistakenly lists the space as “CFO”.)
If you go in person today, you also get the chance to check out the all-marble chairman’s bathroom, even if there’s nothing for sale in there.
And if you were wondering about the fate of the large Goodyear sign atop Goodyear Hall, it’s not being auctioned off. The landmark sign will stay with the building.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com