Quaker Square, the hotel and shopping complex the University of Akron plans to sell for $800,000, is worth more than five times that amount, according to a newly released appraisal of the property.
The appraisal, by Charles G. Snyder Co., was part of a series of documents released Monday by the state of Ohio’s Controlling Board ahead of its scheduled April 7 vote to sell Quaker Square to a group of developers known as Ohio Rivers Investments II, LLC.
In addition to setting the appraised value of the property at $4.06 million, the documents question the viability of Quaker Square as a hotel and suggest that some of the property will need to be razed in order for the project to work.
What is Quaker Square worth and why is it being sold for less than that?
The Summit County Fiscal Office values Quaker Square at $17.7 million, but Snyder’s 131-page appraisal suggests the 9.08-acre complex is worth far less.
The appraisal divides the complex into three pieces: the 27,000-plus-square-foot banquet center known as Quaker Station; a retail and office building known as Quaker Square Mall and Galleria that totals more than 85,000 square feet; and the Quaker Square hotel, where rooms are notably built into former grain silos and which has more than 226,000 square feet of space.
Quaker Station is valued at $2.19 million, the retail and office space at $1.13 million and the hotel at $799,000, according to the appraisal.
So why is it selling for less than it’s worth?
The difference between the $800,000 purchase price and the $4.06 million appraisal “is due to the $57 million of deferred maintenance on the facility and the initial investment required by the purchaser,” according to the agenda for the Controlling Board’s meeting. It also notes that selling the properties will save the university more than $515,000 annually in operating costs.
Kyle Craven, the vice president of Akron-based Craven Construction and one of three partners buying Quaker Square, said the team is planning to invest in the property, but he had nothing to share “at this point” about how much money he expects to spend to reopen the complex.
The Controlling Board description notes the university has been trying to sell the property since 2021 and that restaurants, retailers and office “tenants have slowly left the complex and no occupants remain.” Additionally, the university has not used the hotel for dormitories since spring 2019, aside from quarantining students during the coronavirus pandemic. The university has owned the complex since 2007.
Is a hotel at Quaker Square viable?
Akron leaders have long wanted a hotel attached to the John S. Knight Center, and Craven said he intends to reopen the eight-story, 195-room hotel built into 36 former grain silos. But Snyder’s appraisal said there is no market for the rooms.
Hotel vacancy in Akron was around 57% in 2024, the appraisal said. Snyder wrote that the structure was “unlikely to be financially feasible as a hotel operation.”
Instead, he suggested apartments — specifically housing for seniors — “would very likely have return on investment.” The appraisal, in fact, was conducted as if the hotel would be used for senior housing or other similar residences.
Craven said he had “no plans” to turn the former hotel into senior living and affirmed his intention to reopen it as a hotel.
“With the convention center so close,” he said, “it’s viable to do it.”
Others have also underlined their desire for the round-roomed hotel to reopen. Dana Noel, Progress Through Preservation’s advocacy committee chair, said he thought reopening the property as a hotel could support “a bigger, better convention business,” while Kimberly Beckett, president and CEO of the Downtown Akron Partnership, said she thought the Knight Center would book more conventions if the hotel was open for business.
And Kyle Kutuchief, the program director in Akron for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, said the fact that the BLU-Tique Hotel and Courtyard Akron Downtown have succeeded shows there’s “more than enough demand” for three hotels in the area. A successful redevelopment project could attract people to Akron, he said.
The hotel’s round rooms are “architecturally bizarre, they’re weird, they’re really cool,” Kutuchief said. “It’s very Akron.”
What parts of Quaker Square does an appraiser think should be torn down?
The hotel’s mezzanine swimming pool “is no longer usable with extensive leakage into the lobby area,” the appraisal said, and parts of the office/retail complex are in disrepair. Snyder’s report suggests tearing down portions of the property to save money.
At the hotel, Snyder suggests razing the pool and the porte cochère, or covered entryway, at the hotel’s front door. He also recommends removing some office/retail property from that section of the complex.
“This will allow for not only cost savings in terms of necessary repairs but also provide better utility of parking to all subject uses, as the current parking requires crossing of a substantial roadway to the detached surface parking lot,” he wrote. “The office/retail structure would be decreased by approximately 25,000 square feet, lowering operating costs and overall property vacancy.”
Snyder suggested it would cost about $285,000 to demolish part of the hotel and the retail portion he said should be torn down.
While Craven’s team may knock down some internal walls, the developers have not identified any piece of the properties they think needs to be torn down.
“We think we can save the swimming pool in its current location,” he said. “We don’t plan to do anything demo-wise to any of that structure.”
What happens to the Quaker Square fixtures?
In addition to the appraisal, the documents included with the Controlling Board’s agenda detail the property’s continuing relationship with the University of Akron.
The university will continue to access Quaker Station free of charge through the end of 2026. While Craven and his partners can keep the Quaker Square name and many building furnishings, the university will retain a slew of kitchen and banquet equipment throughout Quaker Station.
And the parties are working on an agreement to allow the university to continue using green space on the property for an engineering corrosion laboratory — at a cost of $1 a year for four years. Both agreements can be renewed.
Craven’s group will pay all costs related to the sale, according to the agreements.
The Controlling Board is expected to approve the sale April 7.
Editor’s note: The Knight Foundation is a funder of Signal Akron.