An 1893 soap factory that later made cereal and paint, and an attached 1919 warehouse, have been transformed into 53 apartments close to downtown Akron.
The $14 million soap factory project represents the first time that Oriana House, a community corrections and behavioral health agency, has moved into market-rate housing. The decision to do so came after the group acquired the old factory at 243 Furnace St., about a half mile northeast of Luigi’s and less than a mile from downtown.
“To me, it’s exciting,” said Bernie Rochford, the executive assistant for special projects for Oriana House. “We’re being able to contribute to [fixing] the shortage in housing.”
The transformation comes after the soap factory, located in Akron’s Cascade Valley neighborhood, was turned into offices in a $2.5 million renovation. Both conversions used historic tax credits to help pay for the rehabs.
Now, Rochford said, the Furnace Street Flats are weeks away from having tenants move in. About a dozen of the units, built into the warehouse and the old factory itself, have already been rented.
The Furnace Street Flats are “extremely close” to downtown Akron but aren’t counted in the 1,069 units that have been delivered or are under construction in the city center since 2018, said Suzie Graham Moore, Akron’s director of economic development. An additional 694 housing units have been announced downtown.
“I think it is really exciting we’re adding more market-rate units,” Graham Moore said. “It’s a wonderful complement to the ongoing residential conversions we’re seeing downtown.”
Former Akron Soap Company building is secluded, but near downtown
The preservation of a historic building is “always a big deal,” Graham Moore said. The Akron Soap Company, whose products were sold throughout Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York, had the capacity to produce about 1.1 million pounds of soap per week when it moved into its new facility in July 1893, the Summit County Beacon reported the next year..
Steve Millard, the president and CEO of the Greater Akron Chamber, said the conversion of the old factory and warehouse into apartments is part of the momentum Akron has been seeing.
The five-story warehouse, formerly the Federal Warehouse Storage Company Building, preserves the facade and sliding doors of an old freight elevator; concrete floors, ceilings and pillars; 12-pane windows; and exposed brick on exterior walls. It’s been cladded in an exterior insulation finishing system to ensure the interior could retain its character.
On the three-story soap factory side, there are exposed beams, vaulted ceilings in some apartments and red brick walls that include windows with brick arches.
“I love that building,” said Ralph McGreevy, the chief operating officer and executive vice president of the Northern Ohio Apartment Association. “I think it has a lot of potential.”
The building, which is right past a railroad trestle, is secluded in an area that’s full of trees. McGreevy said the sequestered location and its proximity to restaurants and entertainment makes it a “fabulous” transformation.
“That spot would really be exciting to me,” he said. “I really think it’s a home run location.”
Furnace Street Flats apartments have open floor plans, include amenities
Keeven White, who owned the building before the Oriana House acquired it in 2022, lived there himself for three years.
“I thought it was great,” he said. “The building was nice and quiet.”
White, who now lives in Arizona, was the owner of WhiteSpace Creative. He replaced the roof, windows and doors of the building, preserving the structure. But a failed HVAC system was one too many obstacles for him to continue with the project.
White toured the apartments last month, he said, and said he thought it was a nice end solution for the project.
“They did a nice job honoring the building,” he said. “You don’t see structures like that anymore.”
Each apartment unit is different and includes a combined washer/dryer. The one- and two-bedroom units have living spaces with open floor plans for the living areas and separate bedrooms. On the soap factory side, there are two accessible two-bedroom units.
On the ground level of the warehouse, there are dozens of storage units, bike storage and a dog-washing station. Rochford said he plans to add a gym as well.
Millard said occupancy for apartments downtown is above 90 percent and he expects to see demand for these units as well.
A 646-square-foot, one-bedroom unit rents for $1,425 a month, while a 710-square-foot, one-bedroom unit goes for $1,600 monthly. The penthouse — where White lived — is a 1,600-square-foot unit that could go for $3,500 a month.
And there are two apartments that can only be accessed from the outside that Rochford said will be used as short-term rentals.
Apartments will help Oriana House pay for programs
Rochford said he was glad Oriana House was able to keep a historic building in use. Oriana House, for decades, has been buying land in that area. Rochford said it’s possible more development will follow.
Once the debt for the project is paid off, the income Oriana House makes from rents will go back to the agency. It’s the correctional services portion of Oriana House’s mission, specifically, that will benefit from the project, Rochford said.
The proceeds will be able to help fund programs like Brewed Awakening, a coffeehouse for clients to help them adjust to having sober entertainment.
Other residential buildings Oriana House operates have been converted from old schools, said Linda Weyandt, a spokesperson for the agency.
Still, Rochford said, this conversion was a challenging experience. Nothing is uniform, and there were challenges throughout the process.
“It’s a totally new thing for us,” he said. “It really is kind of a unique space.”
Rochford said if Oriana House hadn’t already bought up nearby property, it probably wouldn’t have been interested in this conversion. But since it had, “It made sense for us to be this involved.”
“There was no real plan,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how it all shakes out five years from now.”
