See what a remade Quaker Square, with a rooftop restaurant, hotel and housing, could look like

A rooftop restaurant. A path carved through historic grain silos. A glassy new exterior. 

The proposal to remake Quaker Square will put a modern sheen on the historic complex, adding a hotel, apartments and plenty of retail and restaurants to Akron’s downtown.

The master plan produced by WRT, a Philadelphia planning and design firm, calls for more glass, more open spaces and new connections to make it easier to get around the complex. 

The three-phase plan will begin with a 108-room hotel and 51 apartments built into the one-time silos. It adds a glass-topped rooftop restaurant with an open-air patio on top of the silos.

Kyle Craven, one of the owners of Quaker Square, said he expects to know in April what hotel flag the team will select. Hilton, Hyatt, Sonesta, Wyndham and Choice hotels are all possibilities, he said.

“All of them know Quaker Square,” he said of the property, which was previously a Hilton, then a Crowne Plaza, before being purchased by the University of Akron as an inn and for student housing. “They want to be in downtown Akron. I didn’t have to sell them on much of anything.”

That hotel will make a difference to downtown, said Christopher Hardesty, the executive director of the Downtown Akron Development Corp. With it, he said, the adjacent John S. Knight Center will be able to bring more visitors and business to the city.

“My understanding is, it can dramatically help support longer, multi-day conventions,” Mayor Shammas Malik said of putting the hotel next to the conference center. “There is a need for more hotels downtown. It’ll be really helpful.”

A slew of amenities planned for residents and hotel guests

The update will come with more amenities, too. Craven intends to cut out existing hotel meeting rooms to create a new courtyard; Quaker Station, an event space, will also be refreshed as part of phase one with a patio, bridal suite and updated restrooms. 

The swimming pool will return, and Craven wants a hot tub, too. Plans call for a gym and spa. The former Schumacher’s will be reopened as a restaurant space, and Craven also talked about building a reading room into a silo.

The hotel rooms will include 18 extended-stay suites with kitchenettes; Hardesty said they could be a draw for people involved with the Polymer Industry Cluster who are in Akron for weeks at a time.

And residents will have access to the hotel amenities, including valet parking, room service and on-demand room cleaning. The plan calls for 27 studio, 21 one-bedroom and three two-bedroom apartments, all with round rooms built into the silos. 

Craven said he did not yet know how much rents might be, but the intention is for them to be high-end units. The apartments will have a separate entrance from the hotel, with their own elevator, so residents can go directly to their units without interacting with hotel guests if they don’t want to.

Residents, too, will have access to the Quaker Station kitchen, where Craven said he hopes to hold cooking classes.

“I’m feeling very good about it,” Craven said of the plan. “It’s very creative stuff. There’s a lot of thought and effort that went into not only the building, but the site.”

Adding apartments and preserving history

Six months after the hotel and apartments open, Craven expects to begin the process of applying for tax credits to begin phase two of the project — 18 more apartments; 12 studio and six two-bedroom — in a low building on South Broadway Street. The bottom floor will have a cafe and a new glass entryway.

“It really sets it apart,” Craven said of the enhancements.

Of course, they need to meet the approval of the State Historic Preservation Office — Quaker Square is on the National Register of Historic Places, so to make external changes, and to get the tax credit money that will help pay for the transformation, the state agency has to grant its approval, as does the National Park Service.

Craven said he thinks the project is in a good position with both agencies.

“I don’t think we’re doing anything too egregious,” he said of the changes.

Malik said he had questions about the historic preservation pieces of the project but that he appreciated the team’s commitment to reopening Quaker Square.

Craven said preserving Quaker Square’s history is paramount for him. He’s been collecting artifacts like letters and marketing materials that came from Akron, and he plans to open an exhibition of it in the lobby.

“We feel like that is a part of the project, is the history of it,” Craven said. “Cereal, as we know it today, started in Akron.”

Bringing Quaker Square back to its factory origins

The second phase also includes the tower in the center of the property and the long, black section on the complex’s east side — referred to as the “train station.” A second new elevator will be added to the back of the tower.

The plan calls for a tunnel to be carved through the silos that make up the tower, creating a pedestrian gateway. That allows for new circulation through the complex and makes a visual statement in the building.

When she walked through the buildings last summer, Keiko Tsuruta Cramer, a partner at WRT, said she wanted to expose more of the building’s bones, to ensure “the original texture is visible.”

The cutout does that, Hardesty said.

“It makes a statement feature, something really attractive,” he said. “What can you see from inside? It’s provocative, from a thought standpoint.”

Craven said the tunnel helps bring the concrete and steel origins of the building to the forefront. Instead of carpets, wood trim and dry wall, the original materials help connect Quaker Square to its origins.

“It was a factory, at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s a great look. I really love it.”

At that entryway, the train cars will stay, Craven said. He wants to remove part of the floor and replace it with glass, so the train tracks below are visible. The train might become a gelato spot.

What will happen to the former Quaker Square retail area?

Phase three tax credit applications will begin six months after phase two’s completion, Craven said. In that phase, the shopping area that was synonymous with Quaker Square will be transformed. 

Craven said there are still a lot of ideas that are being considered — among them, pin bowling, a dog park, a market. 

There will be two floors of retail, with a focus on specialty shops, and two floors of office space. Quaker Square Redevelopment Group, Craven Construction and JRS Development — another partner’s company — will both move their headquarters there, Craven said. He can also see a business and innovation hub to connect with the Polymer Industry Cluster, or other business uses.

“I think we will be able to rent out office space here extremely fast,” Craven said.

The parking lot outside will have trees and other landscaping added, and Carmen Scaccio, who is involved with Quaker Square Redevelopment Group, said he could see outdoor markets or other events taking place there.

Overall, the aesthetics will be more contemporary and industrial, leaning into the complex’s history and the concrete. The indoor spaces will be warmer, though.

“The industrial look is a cold look,” Craven said. 

The Don Drumm artwork in the building, including floor-to-ceiling sculptures on three walls in the old hotel lobby, will remain.

What else will happen at the building? Craven talked about a digital Q sign atop the silos, a grill and fire pit with a giant chess set, an EV charging station. Silo rooms could be turned into a gift shop, an arcade room with board games, a cold plunge, a craft room, a maker space and even a rock climbing wall.

Malik said the complex as a whole can help support vibrancy downtown.

“It’s really thoughtful, the way they’re approaching it,” he said.