A Ford dealership turned upholstery company in Middlebury is slated for new life as Akron’s first food hall.
The Well Community Development Corp. intends to transform the building at 816 E. Market St. into a space for eating and entertainment, with six food stalls. It’s also financing the opening of two food options down the road — Whitfield’s Creole and Soul Food at 911 E. Market St. and a yet-to-be-announced grab-and-go spot next door, both slated to open later this month.
Factory 816 will take 18 months to build, so it will be 2027 before its doors open, said Zac Kohl, The Well’s executive director.
Kohl expects the projects to make a difference in the neighborhood, and to mean more than just additional choices for getting a bite to eat.
“We’re talking about a level of investment that hasn’t happened in Middlebury, the inner ring of Akron, in a long time,” Kohl said. “I think the things we’re doing are going to last generations.”
The rehabilitation and buildout of the building that will become Factory 816 will mean investment of between $12 million and $14 million in the neighborhood, Kohl said. In addition to the food stalls, it will include an entertainment space that could feature an indoor driving range, ping pong and darts, and a 200-person event space.
Kohl estimated the project could bring as many as 70 jobs to Middlebury.
Sharon Connor, the Akron City Council member who represents Ward 10 and Middlebury, said she expects the project to have a great impact on the area.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Connor said. “They are transforming that neighborhood.”
Factory 816 could draw other investment to Middlebury
The City of Akron supported the project with a letter recommending The Well be approved for tax credits it needs to help fund construction, said Suzie Graham Moore, Akron’s director of economic development. She said projects that adapt and reuse old buildings for new purposes are challenging, but rewarding for the community.
“It’s very exciting, and I want to acknowledge it’s very difficult,” Graham Moore said. “The retail and commercial market is very tough.”
The food hall would be near the Rubber City Heritage Trail, a six-mile, multi-use trail that’s under construction in stages and will connect Goodyear Heights to Kenmore, through Middlebury and downtown. The second stage is expected to be completed next year.
Graham Moore said she can see the long-term benefits of the project, which she said would likely draw people from beyond the immediate area. It helps that The Well has a track record of making change in the neighborhood, she said, including transforming an old church into 647 Coffee, among other ventures.
With a location easily accessible from East Akron and downtown, and large employers such as Summa Health nearby, Graham Moore said there is “absolutely” room for a food hall model in the city — especially if a nonprofit like The Well is taking on the risk of constructing it.
“It attracts private investment into areas as well,” she said.
The completed Factory 816 project could be a “huge draw to the area,” said Connor, the city council member. Connor said thousands of employees could flock there for lunches in the future, and families could gather to eat and be entertained.
“It means variety, it means quality of life, it means employment,” Connor said. “People don’t just want food, they want an experience.”
Whitfield’s Creole and Soul Food grew out of The Well program
The Well already works with food entrepreneurs through Akron Food Works, which provides a commercial kitchen for rent by the hour. Tyler Whitfield, who plans to open Whitfield’s Creole and Soul Food later this month, was selling food from his house when he joined the program in 2023.
Late last month, Whitfield and his wife, Fatiah, surveyed the space he would soon be cooking out of. She was thinking about where the tables would go; he laid claim to a bricked-in, triangular space off the dining area that he thought would make a good office.
Whitfield said that, about two years earlier, Kohl had tasted his shrimp and grits at a Taste of Middlebury event and talked to him briefly about the possibility of moving into a restaurant space.
Before Whitfield did so with The Well, he was denied loans he needed to open a restaurant on his own. But since The Well purchased the building and found an equity investor to help finance the startup costs, he’s confident that his catfish, gumbo and po’ boys will draw people in.
“I just think it’s a perfect opportunity to make an impact on a community like this,” Whitfield said. “I’m not LeBron James, but Mr. Whitfield can definitely be an example to younger and older people to do something better.”
His restaurant will have a capacity of about 80 and prices that range from $5 sides to $50 specials.
He hopes the eventual food hall could be the start of a shopping hub that would bring more people to Middlebury. After all, anywhere there’s food, Whitfield said, people want to go. He’ll certainly do his part with Whitfield’s Creole and Soul Food.
“A nice bite to eat and a conversation can change the world,” he said. “We’re just ready to open the doors and let the people flood in.”
More Akron Food Works entrepreneurs could move into food hall
Kohl said he hopes he can tap more entrepreneurs at Akron Food Works who are ready to move into Factory 816 when it opens. He expects to choose contractors in the first three months of 2026 and, in the second quarter, begin work on the project.
The three interior pieces — the food hall, the entertainment floor and the event space — will be completed before the project opens. There’s a plan for a bar and perhaps eventually a rooftop space.
For now, food options in the area include Burger King and McDonald’s, although there’s also high-end steaks at Alexander Pierce, said Avery Duff, a Middlebury resident of 14 years. Duff said they’re looking forward to watching hospital workers and others who spend their lunch breaks maneuvering drive-thrus eating at the food stalls instead.
“I think that would be great,” they said. “It’s more and healthier options that actually keep money in Akron.”
Duff said they’re anticipating choices that give people a reason to stay in the neighborhood.
That, Kohl said, is one of his goals in planning for Factory 816.
“I think it creates a destination in Middlebury that hasn’t existed in a really long time,” Kohl said. “I want people to be invested in the neighborhood, part of the community.”