The University of Akron is in the process of selling Quaker Square for $800,000 to three local business partners who plan to reopen the hotel, where rooms are built into round, Quaker Oats grain silos, and to renovate the rest of the complex, which has been largely empty for years.

Kyle Craven, Joe Scaccio and Steve Dimengo, who expect the sale to close in May, recently took Signal Akron on a tour inside the facility. From the old oat-processing spaces to business offices to the former hotel and restaurants, the massive former Quaker Oats factory is part modern and part reminder of the factory built in 1932 and closed in 1970.

The hotel registration desk from when the Quaker Square Hilton first opened, adorned by a Don Drumm sculpture. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)
Joe Scaccio walks through part of the Quaker Square lobby area that is decorated with a Don Drumm sculpture on three walls. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)
View into the main lobby area from the entrance on the east side. The round walls are the exteriors of the grain silos from when the facility was a Quaker Oats plant. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
Joe Scaccio, left, and Kyle Craven, two of the three local partners buying the Quaker Square complex, look up into a large grain chute in the ceiling of the basement area. Steve Dimengo, the third partner, is in the background.(Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
The drained pool inside the old Quaker Square hotel.
The drained pool inside the old Quaker Square hotel. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
Grain chutes extend from the ceiling in the basement area of the old Quaker Oats complex.
Grain chutes extend from the ceiling in the basement area of the old Quaker Oats complex. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
A blue roadster is tucked away in a section of the basement of Quaker Square.
A blue roadster is tucked away in a section of the basement of Quaker Square. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
One of the restaurant spaces inside the old Quaker Square complex
One of the restaurant spaces inside the old Quaker Square complex, most recently owned by the University of Akron. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
Old industrial gears that still turn are part of the decoration in the lower level of the Quaker Square complex.
Old industrial gears that still turn are part of the decoration in the lower level of the Quaker Square complex. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)
A “Covid Screenings” sign, leftover from when the Quaker Square complex was used for COVID-19 testing, sits inside the main lobby area of the old Quaker Square hotel. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)
Kyle Craven, left, Joe Scaccio, center, and Steve Dimengo, who expect the sale of the Quaker Square complex to close in May, walk along the hallway near the old retail shops as they head for the hotel area. The dining car to the right was used at one time as a restaurant. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)
Joe Scaccio inside one of the round rooms in the former hotel.
Joe Scaccio inside one of the round rooms in the former hotel. The room was mostly recently a dorm at the University of Akron. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
The former banquet facility inside the former Quaker Square hotel.
The banquet facility inside the former Quaker Square hotel, last used by the University of Akron as a COVID-19 testing space. (Christiana Cacciato / Signal Akron)
Joe Scaccio tries out the “man beltz,” a conveyer belt of sorts that workers used to ride from the basement of the Quaker Oats complex to higher floors by holding the handle and climbing onto the step plate. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)
The lobby area near the rear entrance, complete with its own grain silo, of the former Quaker Square Hilton. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)

Tell us your Quaker Square memory

Signal Akron is compiling memories from our readers about their experiences related to the Quaker Square complex. From the hotel, to the silos, to the Quaker Oats cereal factory, we’d like to hear from you.

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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.