On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, the new owners of Quaker Square stood on the roof of the onetime grain silos, surveying Akron below.
From the top, unfinished floor of the silos-turned-hotel, they had climbed up a worn stepladder, through a rooftop hatch, to the building’s summit. With the owners were representatives from WRT, the Philadelphia-based planning and design firm hired to help master plan the sprawling complex.
On the roof, John Keene, a principal and architect with the firm, held up his phone to capture Akron’s skyline. Inside, Jared McKnight, a senior associate with the firm, said he thought the building was incredible.
“There’s so much history layered in here,” McKnight said, standing on the unfinished floor. “I think anything is possible.”
The unfinished top floor sits above the elevator’s reach, accessible only by a steep metal stairway. Joe Scaccio, one of Quaker Square’s owners, envisions a raised roof, glass walls, a highly visible bar or restaurant.
The views alone would make it a destination, McKnight said. It would also be a beacon to attract people to the complex.
“I think there’s going to be some really unique things that happen here,” Keene said.
Part of his job is to figure out what they are.
Kyle Craven, one of Quaker Square’s owners, said the firm’s diversity of expertise — in architecture, landscape architecture, adaptive reuse, engineering and urban design — solidified WRT’s selection above three other firms that were considered. WRT also has broad experience, working on mixed-use residential and commercial designs as well as Cleveland’s eastern lakefront project.
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Keene’s projects include a performance facility for Philadelphia FringeArts and the SteelStacks Arts and Cultural Campus at the former Bethlehem Steel plant in Pennsylvania. WRT has completed campus master plans and designed cultural centers along with other redevelopment planning.
“They have the background, they have the success rate, of doing these kinds of projects,” Craven said. “It’s very impressive, what they can do and what they have done.”
‘We know we want to be a destination’
“Oh wow wow wow wow,” said Keiko Tsuruta Cramer, a partner at WRT, as she took in rough-hewn entryways carved out of the concrete silos.
As she walked through the complex, Cramer said she was surprised by the good condition of Quaker Square. She’d like to help expose more of the building’s bones, to ensure “the original texture is visible.”
The concrete cuts, the stone, the rivets and, of course, the silos. “How iconic they are, and visible,” Cramer said.
“This was a functioning site, functioning in a way that’s covered up right now,” McKnight added. “We can reveal certain moments that add to storytelling opportunities.”
“It’s incredible,” Keene said. “There’s just so many stories and history to it. It’s gone through so many lives. I think it’s due for a new one.”
What that new one will be is still in flux, but the owners have ideas. Those ideas are guaranteed to cost tens of millions of dollars.
On his phone, Scaccio scrolled through a long list of possibilities he’s jotted down. Gelato, pizza, popcorn, pie, candles, woodworking, stained glass, leather, a wine shop, a tea shop, a Christmas store — any might make it into the final iteration of Quaker Square.
Keene considered WRT’s tour a chance for his team to discover unique features of the complex, saying that their eyes and ears were open to possibilities for future development. He, too, called out the “incredible amount of texture,” from the silos to Don Drumm art protruding from hotel walls.
The owners are considering a wedding venue. They’re thinking about a pickleball court. They’ve floated, more than once, building a rock climbing wall into a grain silo. Maybe a museum or a cigar shop or a market. Perhaps a bookstore or a dry cleaner or a fondue restaurant.
“I want to see some unique things,” Scaccio said. “Their job is to try to fit these things into our space. We know we want to be a destination.”
Owners plan to reopen hotel, bring residents to Quaker Square
One thing is likely: people will live at Quaker Square.
The complex already includes an eight-story, 195-room former hotel built into 36 grain silos. While the owners plan to reopen a hotel there, they haven’t decided how many rooms it will be.
However many it is, the remainder are likely to be apartments, and it’s possible other parts of the complex will be turned into housing, as well.
“We’re still playing around, it’s still preliminary,” Craven said. “We feel like there’s a need for [housing] units.”
Occupancy at other downtown hotels is above 60%, Craven said, and he expects the new complex to be a draw in its own right — as well as to allow the John S. Knight Center to draw more conventions. Over time, he believes hotel occupancy at Quaker Square will be 70% or more.
Craven hopes to have the master plan wrapped up by the end of the year, including a possible operator of the hotel.
At the former hotel swimming pool, where a leak led part of the ceiling to crumble into the lobby below, Craven said he “definitely” wants to keep the mezzanine pool and redo the space, even though an appraisal by Charles B. Snyder Co. before Quaker Square was sold recommends razing it due to “extensive leakage into the lobby area.”
Access to the outdoors, maybe with garage doors that open up the area to an outdoor deck, would be an asset for the hotel, Craven said.
“I’ve seen photos of this in its prime,” Scaccio said. “It’s effing beautiful.”
Quaker Square could be accessible before redevelopment begins
It will take some time before Quaker Square is operational again. Perhaps in the meantime, Keene said, the owners could consider ghost tours, farmers markets or other events to get people in the door and curious about what happens next.
“You could activate this for, like, a weekend,” he said to the owners. “A lot of it can just be backdrop.”
WRT’s objectives for the project include developing a bold and achievable vision for Quaker Square based on community needs, market conditions and trends that can help determine the right path forward. The goal is to position Quaker Square as an economic catalyst for downtown Akron, starting with short-term activations that require minimal construction.
The owners agreed five months ago to buy Quaker Square from the University of Akron for $800,000. The sale closed at the end of June.
Scaccio said he wants the process to go faster.
“I always want it to go faster,” he said, then admitted, “it takes time.”
Scaccio anticipates it will take at least $50 million to make the eventual master plan a reality; the appraisal said there was $57 million in deferred maintenance on the complex. The ownership team has started the process of getting the capital it needs to move forward with renovation. For Craven, the fact that WRT has been selected and is starting its work is a win.
“I think it’s exciting because we’re actually getting something going here, finally,” Craven said.
Keene said he’s worked on other adaptive reuse projects, but Akron is the only place to find a project like Quaker Square. He said he can’t wait to get started.
“I don’t know what it’s all going to be, but I think it’s going to be pretty awesome,” Keene said. “To do it well, I think, is really difficult. We’re up for that.”
