When the law firm of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC decamped to Fairlawn 20 years ago, it wasn’t the only company to leave downtown Akron for the western suburbs. Now, with the announcement that it will be returning to its Akron roots, there’s optimism that Buckingham won’t be an outlier in its move back downtown.
“The trend is reversing,” said Tom Weise, president of the Schipper Group, which owns and manages the AES Building at 388 S. Main St. where Buckingham will take 35,000 square feet on the fifth floor. “There’s a positive psychological effect. Their return really validates, I believe, the investment the City of Akron has put in.”
Those investments include years of streetscape projects, the revitalization of Lock 3 Park and infrastructure projects including a planned road resurfacing and a water line replacement that were promised to the nearby GPD Group to entice the architecture and engineering firm to stay, and expand in, the city.
A focus on bringing more residents downtown has also made a difference, Weise said — employers want to go where their workers are.
‘You have to have a vibrant downtown’
GPD has 450 employees in Akron and expects to add at least 118 over the next five years. Buckingham, founded in Akron in 1913, currently has 20 attorneys plus support staff in Fairlawn for a total of about 60 employees, Akron partner in charge Chris Niekamp said. He said he intends the Akron office, Buckingham’s headquarters, to add another 10 lawyers plus their support staff.
Plus, Weise said, in the coming weeks, he expects to sign another lease for the building that will expand a local company’s downtown presence, bringing 120 office jobs. While he declined to name the business, Weise said it was a company where employees had largely been working from home that would be doing “return to office with an exclamation point,” establishing a corporate headquarters for one of the business’ divisions.
“There was a lot more going on in the suburbs at that time,” Niekamp said of Buckingham’s previous decision to move to Fairlawn. “It’s kind of come full circle.”
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said in a statement the decision “is a vote of confidence in all that Akron has to offer.” In a later interview, he said members of the administration had been working with both GPD Group and Buckingham for years, and he was glad to see the public announcements, even if he knows the city still has work to do on improving safety and attracting amenities.
“Is it gangbusters? No,” he said of Akron’s downtown. “No one is doing a victory lap.”
Still, the mayor said, his administration is taking an aggressive approach to try to continue to add density downtown — in commercial and office space, as well as with more retail, hospitality and housing options.
“Really, to have a vibrant city, you have to have a vibrant downtown,” he said.
Incentives for law firm to return to Akron
The city and the Downtown Akron Development Corp. are both incentivizing Buckingham to move back downtown, something Niekamp said made the math work for the project. The firm will have a 10-year lease on the office space, and Niekamp said he expects to spend between $1.7 million and $2 million to renovate it, adding an outdoor deck to the break room and expanding the number of shared desks for workers visiting from the firm’s other offices.
Akron City Council in a 12-0 vote Monday approved a $50,000 relocation grant as well as a development grant that will contribute $40,000 annually for each of five years. Malik said his administration is trying to offer incentives that are tied to data; in this case, the firm’s minimum $8 million payroll.
The Downtown Akron Development Corp. also expects to approve a $50,000 business development grant once the firm’s application has been received, said Chris Hardesty, the group’s executive director.
Hardesty described the grant for Buckingham, the first such award from Downtown Akron Development Corp., as a way to get the ball rolling on even more downtown success.
“Downtown is ready for its rebirth,” Hardesty said. “It shows downtown Akron is serious about getting employees back.”
Buckingham expects to move in the fall, once its Fairlawn lease is up in October, Niekamp said. He said there was some consternation from employees who are anxious about being in the heart of a city. But with a reception to introduce employees to the building and covered, heated parking for most workers, Niekamp said, he thinks even the naysayers will quickly become comfortable.
“I think everybody will warm up to the idea,” he said. “Once they get down there, they’re going to love it.”
Plus, Niekamp said, he thinks the move downtown will help with recruitment, especially for young workers.
“It’s very exciting,” Niekamp said of Buckingham’s decision. “It’s a great move for us, especially for our younger associates who haven’t experienced being downtown.”
The effect on downtown Akron
The result is huge, Hardesty said — more people going out to lunch, bringing clients downtown, showing others the charms of downtown Akron. The decision also increases downtown occupancy and increases tax dollars in the city, City Council Vice President Jeff Fusco said in announcing the proposal at Monday’s council meeting.
It all helps build the city’s case that more employers should consider moving their businesses downtown, Hardesty said. Weise, with Schipper Group, said he sees Buckingham’s decision as transformational.
“It confirms the trajectory we’re on,” Weise said.
For Malik, it’s a step in the right direction. To succeed, he said, the city has an obligation not to just make promises about improvements to roads and infrastructure, as it has in front of the AES Building, but to deliver on them.
“We’re going to work really hard,” he said. “We have a responsibility.”
When Buckingham moves downtown, Niekamp said, it won’t just mean more people eating at restaurants, going to happy hours or attending cultural events. It will mean another business choosing to support and be part of Akron itself.
“The core is where things happen and where they evolve from,” he said. “If the core falls down, we all fall down. We want it to be vibrant again. That affects the entire region. It comes out from the hub.”