It's Been Done

Last Friday I wrote a post about plans to remake the Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe, Arizona. I recieved comments about a similar project in Akron, Ohio in which a former Quaker Oats facility was successfully converted into a hotel. It just so happens the Akron project is highlighted in "How Buildings Learn," an excellent book I own. I scanned the "before and after" photographs contained in the book and would like to share them here:

1979 -- The downtown of Akron, Ohio, grew right around the monumental grain silos (1932) of the Quaker Oats Company. People got used to seeing the structure and would have missed it if it was gone. (Photo by Bruce S. Ford, City of Akron Department of Building and Urban Development)

1990 -- The downtown location made the property central enough to support a hotel. That, plus preservationist incentives from the government, turned a bizarre idea into something economically attractive. The hotel is known as the Quaker Hilton. (Photo by Bruce S. Ford, City of Akron Department of Building and Urban Development)

The development of this hotel, part of Quaker Square in Akron, demonstrates that converting the silos of the Hayden Flour Mill into condominiums is not as outlandish an idea as it may seem. I hope that the City of Tempe is willing to offer financial incentives in the same manner that the City of Akron did if that's economically necessary for making the historic mill into a productive community asset once more.