With the opening of county offices in the Firestone Triangle building, the city of Akron is looking at the future of the main Firestone building.
Akron deputy mayor for intergovernmental affairs Marco Sommerville says that there's one goal in mind for reuse of the Firestone building: jobs.
"Of course, our first priority there, if we could get some type of manufacturing there, some type of office use, those are probably our first choices" Sommerville tells WAKR's Jasen Sokol, "but we'll entertain anything."
Sommerville says given the condition of the Firestone building, it will probably be torn down for a new use at the site.
"It is probably an older building, it probably is not energy efficient," Sommerville says, "and it probably would serve a better purpose if it was torn down and the land was redeveloped.
But he says the city has a history of reusing existing property, like with Canal Place and the East End development at the former Goodyear headquarters, so that's not being ruled out either.
The county offices at the nearby Firestone Triangle building are there for the long term.
Outgoing Akron city planning director Marco Sommerville isn't leaving City Hall next year.
He'll fill a new role as Deputy Mayor for Intergovermental Affairs, and serve as a senior advisor to new mayor Dan Horrigan. He says Horrigan "likes to listen more than he likes to talk".
One issue that'll be on the city's plate is the long-vacated Rolling Acres Mall, no matter if it's finally sold, or goes back to the city.
Whatever happens, Sommerville says the main priority for the former mall is to bring in new jobs.
"We in the city are landlocked as far as land, there's not a lot of land left in the city of Akron," Sommerville tells WAKR's Jasen Sokol. "And if we could have that land to develop it for jobs, that would be priority number one."
Sommerville says he'd like to see light industrial space or office space at the former mall site.
But he says the city will have to work with the owners of space once taken by the mall's former department stores. Those buildings won't be directly involved in any sale or sheriff's sale of the main part of mall itself.