- Quaker Square
Quaker Square, located in the heart of downtown
Akron, Ohio , is a mall made out of the oldQuaker Oats mill, silos and factory which originally operated there. The oat silos have been transformed into hotel rooms.History
Quaker Oats built 36 grain silos in 1932. Each silo was 120 feet tall and 24 feet in diameter, and together they housed 1,500,000 bushels of grain. [http://www.quakersquare.com/quakerhistory.html]Quaker Oats terminated production in Akron in 1970. The entire complex is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places . [http://www.quakersquare.com/quakerhistory.html]Mall
The facility was repurposed in March 1973, and reopened 01 April 1975 with four shops and an ice cream parlor. [http://www.quakersquare.com/quakerhistory.html]
The silos were converted into a Hilton Hotel which opened in 1980. [http://www.uakron.edu/news/articles/uamain_1801.php] Later it became a Crowne Plaza hotel. The hotel is built into the suite of silos and is famed for its 196 completely round rooms. (Source: "Quaker Chronicle" promotional sheet available at the hotel.)
The Trackside Grille & Ice Cream Parlor, a restaurant themed with railroads which run parallel to the building, also provides a narrative of Akron’s history. The Trackside Dining Room was constructed with the beams and columns of the factory building. (Source: "Quaker Chronicle" promotional sheet available at the hotel.)
The Quaker Square General Store offers oatmeal cookies, pie-baking classes for children, and "nostalgic" candy. (Source: "Quaker Chronicle" promotional sheet available at the hotel.)
Purchase by University of Akron
In mid-June 2007 the abutting
University of Akron bought the complex for $22,679,000 with plans to convert it into student housing and office space. [http://www.uakron.edu/news/articles/uamain_1801.php] The university planned to house more than 400 students in the converted hotel starting with the 2008 spring semester. [http://downtownakron.com/pages/about06/news-releases/Newsrelease62.html] As of January 2008, the university has begun to use the upper floors of the hotel as a residence hall.Under contract with UA, RDA Management of Fairlawn will operate 95 hotel rooms on the four bottom floors of the silos for the next two years. The university agreed to keep those rooms available to the public for that period to give the city an opportunity to secure more hotel space for downtown visitors and tourists.
Quaker Square's stores are staying open and the leases of 16 office tenants are continuing. The pool and fitness center remain open to hotel guests. [http://www.ohio.com/news/13744582.html]
External links
* [http://cleveland.about.com/od/akronattractions/p/quakersquare.htm About.com article]
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