Huntington Bank is under contract to sell its two buildings on Cascade Plaza in downtown Akron.

The sale, to a “local real estate developer,” includes the Cascade Building at 3 Cascade Plaza and the historic Akron Tower at 106 S. Main St., according to a statement from Ron Paydo, Huntington’s market president for Akron and Canton. A Huntington spokesperson said the company isn’t able to share the name of the buyer or their specific plans for the buildings, but Paydo’s statement implied the buildings would be converted from office space to other uses.

“We expect this redevelopment to be a great step for the livability of downtown Akron and the surrounding area,” Paydo said in the statement.

Huntington will “largely” exit the buildings and consolidate its Akron team at the company’s Operations Center at 295 Huntington Circle, he said. The company will continue to have some office space in the Cascade Building, Paydo said, and the bank branch in the Akron Tower will remain open.

The Cascade Building at 3 Cascade Plaza in downtown Akron
The Cascade Building at 3 Cascade Plaza in downtown Akron is under contract to be sold by Huntington Bank. (Photo via Google Street View)

Huntington’s local employees were given the news this morning, before the public announcement of the sale. The sales price was not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025.

The Akron Tower, the city’s tallest building at 309 feet and 28 stories, was completed in 1931 and originally housed the First Central Trust Bank. The art deco-style building  was put up for sale in 2019. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007 and is the city’s first skyscraper. 

The sale of the two buildings means that all four buildings located on Cascade Plaza downtown are in the early stages of redevelopment.

A plan to convert Akron’s former City Centre Hotel into apartments has been revived by Testa Cos. President Joel Testa. The one-time Holiday Inn and Radisson Inn at 20 W. Mill St. could be turned into 137 apartments, some affordable and some market-rate.

The PNC Center at 1 Cascade Plaza, owned by the Development Finance Authority of Summit County since last year, is in the process of being sold to an unidentified Northeast Ohio buyer at a purchase price of $2.8 million. The plan for redevelopment is unclear.

The City of Akron is also spending around $6.3 million to renovate the Cascade Plaza Parking Deck underneath the complex — $5 million came from the State of Ohio. 

Cascade Plaza was built as an urban renewal project and was completed in 1970.

The complex could produce 1,000 apartments or condominiums downtown, said Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber — a figure the Downtown Akron Partnership thinks the demand exists for. Millard said while there’s a lot to be known about how the projects proceed, he thinks the announcement of the projects portends a lot of opportunity.

“I think it’s a big deal,” Millard said. “There are a lot of different things happening in Akron to be excited about.”

The Huntington building in particular lends itself to converting into residences, he said. And Millard said that kind of work can help create density and vibrancy downtown.

“Cranes and projects and scaffolding help rewrite a story and a narrative for a community,” he said. “You start to see some momentum.”

Editor’s note: Ron Paydo is a member of the Signal Akron Advisory Board. This story was updated to include comments from Steve Millard.

Arielle Kass contributed to this report.

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.