AKRON, Ohio — In a section of a 200,000-square-foot space within the former Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, workers at OnQ are busy making retail displays, mostly for companies in the tech industry.
OnQ has its design headquarters in California, but its manufacturing and production operations are now located at the Chapel Hill Business Park, which replaced the mall in North Akron after it faced a slow, steady decline and financial struggles. The mall near the Cuyahoga Falls border opened in 1967.
Paul Chapuis, founder and CEO of OnQ, said Walmart, Target, Costco, Lowe's Garmin, Apple, Google and Best Buy are among their customers.
"A consumer in a store walks up to a display and experiences the product and they can learn a little bit about it. They can touch and try it. They can understand how it works," Chapuis said.
Just above the area where OnQ employees build and package products, there is a mural, which is a nod to the building's past. Chapuis felt it was important to keep the mural.
"Everyone that looked up at the mural remembered it. It was called The Four Seasons," Chapuis said.
The mural used to be in the atrium near the interior entrance to JC Penney.
Adam Berkley, the senior director of operations for OnQ, said working in the former mall space is special because he had his first date with his wife at Chapel Hill.
In addition, Berkley is among several Akron-area residents who have fond childhood memories of the mall, including visits with Santa and the iconic Archie the Talking Snowman.
"Archie was something that was only special to Chapel Hill, so we came here specifically for that," Berkley said.
The business park now has more than 150 employees among four companies: OnQ, Craft 33, Quantix and Driverge.
Chapuis said breathing new life into the old mall is a big deal.
"We love the idea, this nearly poetic idea, of taking old, distressed retail and making that part of supporting new retail," he said.
In 2020, News 5 reported on the continued demise of Chapel Hill Mall. It was served with a foreclosure notice after back taxes and unpaid utility bills piled up.
Industrial Commercial Properties (ICP) purchased the property and owns 715,000 square feet of it.
Sean Vollman, the deputy director of economic development for Akron, said the city did not own the mall, but the private deal that led to the transformation of the property likely avoided years of problems with potential blight.
"It was a potential albatross that we had on our hands and I think it has been a smashing success," Vollman said
ICP officials said there is still room to grow at the business park, including space for a new industrial building. The owner/developer is also looking for a business to lease the former Sears Auto Center.
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik was on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place Wednesday evening at OnQ.
