AKRON, OH — Akron's skyline is undergoing a major change.
The city’s plan to demolish its beloved smokestacks at the former B.F. Goodrich power plant, announced last year, is well underway. The smokestacks should be demolished by the end of November. Next, will be work on the rest of the complex, which should wrap up in January.
But all is not lost.
Jessica Sublett, president and CEO of Bounce Innovation Hub, says her team is continuing to acquire artifacts from the historic plant to transform them into works of art for display inside the 300,000-square-foot hub.
“We have been bringing new life and new love into each of the floors,” she said.
The space houses more than 150 pieces with the help of local interior designer Karen Starr of Hazel Tree Design Studio and contributions from local artists.
“It's just a way to save some things going into a landfill and for the creation of new things…to have it brought to life with local artisans. We just love to take that approach in our interior designs,” Starr explained. “The items that we reclaimed to repurpose into the space have held up great.”
And as Sublett shared, they are bringing in more artifacts to the hub's generator space, which is currently limited to the first floor.
“We're about to undergo a construction project to take this up to our second floor so we'll be imagining more of the steam pant items in the second-floor renovation,” she said. “Hopefully, the legacy of Goodrich can live on and other spaces, including this building… I hope that when they reimagine the stacks somewhere else that we really lean into the fact that this was a city that was built by entrepreneurs and built by innovation.”
The city, which owns the power plant, is still combing through survey suggestions on how to help pay homage to the smokestacks. Right now, the most popular proposed idea is to create an access path with miniature Goodrich smokestack replicas on each side, which would eventually connect the towpath trail to a Goodrich Park area. All recommendations are now being passed on to Akron's new mayor. So far, no firm plans have been announced. We are told more details will likely be made public by next year.
