Goodyear eyes new HQ in Akron - If the city will help

Akron, Ohio - Goodyear is considering building a new corporate headquarters on a several-acre plot of land south of its existing technical centre in east Akron - if adequate support from local, state and federal sources can be arranged, according to the Mayor of Akron Donald Plusquellic.

Goodyear is not actively looking for a new headquarters location, according to executive vice president Joe Gingo, who added that he was asked several months ago to look at the situation and come up with parameters for a new facility to house the tyre maker´s headquarters staff of 3000.

Goodyear´s existing corporate headquarters is housed in a converted 80-year-old, five-floor tyre factory.

"Our outdated facilities are not conducive to effective and efficient business in today´s standards," Gingo said at a news conference held at the company´s technical centre. Trying to keep the existing headquarters updated technologically was a "logistics mess," he said, and the building and its facilities are not up to the standards one would expect from a Fortune 150 company. The headquarters was last renovated in 1973.

Goodyear has not been approached by other communities seeking to entice the company to move, Gingo said. Mayor Plusquellic countered that comment, adding: "There'll be 20 or more lining up now to try it."

Goodyear declined to discuss details of how big or expensive a new headquarters would be, other than to say the existing structure has about 800 000 square feet (7500 sq. metres) of usable space and would cost "in the millions." An ideal new headquarters would be a more open, campus-like structure, Gingo said, pointing to the firm's technical centre, which opened 24 years ago after a $125 million renovation project.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)