Plans to demolish the former administration building of the Akron Public Schools are on hold as the City of Akron seeks a developer for the 109-year-old building.
The Akron Public Schools Headquarters Building at 70 N. Broadway St. in Akron has been owned by the city since February. That follows a 2018 land swap with the city, Summit County and United Way of Summit and Medina that paved the way for APS to move its headquarters to 10 N. Main St.
The State of Ohio has awarded a demolition grant for the old school headquarters, but in a request for proposals released Tuesday, city officials said they would prefer to redevelop the building, known as Bowen School prior to 1939. It’s zoned for retail, residential and commercial uses.
Dana Noel, the advocacy chair for Progress Through Preservation, said he thought the old administration building would be perfect for apartments — and putting more housing in the area could further encourage downtown development and adaptive reuse of old buildings.
“Akron has been slow to appreciate the value of some of these historical buildings,” Noel said. “Akron needs to recognize the fact that if it wants to attract business, it needs to make Akron an attractive place, a cool place, with things happening downtown. It’s going to be a lifestyle.”
Potential developers have until 4 p.m. Sept. 11 to share their vision for the 48,000-square-foot, three-story building. The city’s goal is “redevelopment of an economically viable downtown asset,” the request for proposals said, and it will prioritize adaptive reuse of the building rather than demolition.
Because a grant available for the building’s demolition will expire next April — and be lost if the city moves forward with redevelopment — the city is requiring a minimum purchase price of $800,000 for the old school building. It will return that money when the project is successfully completed, but Akron will keep any portion of the purchase price above $800,000.
Building featured district’s first ‘open-air classrooms’ to stem disease spread
The old headquarters was used until 2019, when the school administration relocated. It’s a half block from the Market Street Arts District, which includes the Akron Art Museum and the Nightlight cinema.
The Neoclassical building was used as a school from 1916 to 1939, when it was remodeled to become the district’s administration building. It was designed by architects Harpster & Bliss, who also designed the original Portage Path and Lincoln schools.
It was the only Akron school to feature open air classrooms, intended to increase the amount of fresh air kids got and keep the spread of disease lower, particularly tuberculosis. According to a historic flyer, the students were given heavy coats with hoods and woolen boots so they could study with the windows wide open, even in the winter.
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They were also given breakfast, a big lunch and crackers and milk (or cocoa) and weighed once a month, with assistance from a nurse and a dietician to monitor their weight. When they gained enough weight, they were sent back to the regular classrooms in the school.
The new Bowen School included 13 large classrooms and a large suite where domestic arts could be taught, along with a carpentry shop for vocational skills. The building also featured both a gymnasium on the first floor and an auditorium with a stage on the second, according to an academic paper by Petra Knapp at Youngstown State University.
The building was designed specifically for elementary students but could also accommodate high school kids, helping to reduce some of the overcrowding the district was experiencing.
A lunch room, a first of its kind in the district, was included in the plan and suggested that more students were bringing lunch from home and staying at school to eat, rather than walking home. There was no cafeteria on the building plans.
Could converting old Akron schools into apartments become a trend?
In addition to the building, the property also includes an acre of vacant land that developers can make a bid for, to purchase and redevelop.
The land and building are available as-is, and the buyer would be required to start the project within 90 days of the property being transferred. Any buyer would have to secure and manage the property immediately, the proposal said.
Noel said tax credits could help the developer move forward with any potential project. He called the request for proposals “good news for the time being.”
“People are redeveloping their city centers, rediscovering them,” he said. “Why not try?”
In addition to the former Akron Public Schools building, Cascade Plaza and other downtown buildings are slated for redevelopment, several of them for housing.
Noel said he hopes it becomes a trend in the city — perhaps Firestone Park Elementary School, which closed last year, could be turned into apartments, too.
“It can be a stepping stone to other market-rate projects,” Noel said. “There’s so much possibility here in Akron. It starts to create momentum.”
