Albrecht Inc. Acquires 106 Acres for Industrial Park

STOW, OHIO-Albrecht Inc. plans to spend $100 million over the next 10 years transforming a 106-acre former Goodyear tire mold plant here into a one-million-sf business campus. It is the largest undertaking ever for the Akron-based commercial real estate development company, which has an existing portfolio of four million sf of retail and industrial space spread across several Ohio counties. Albrecht recently paid $4.5 million for the property. It is bounded to the east by Hudson Drive and to the north by McCauley Road. Company VP Jack Juron says the focal point for the campus will be the intersection of McCauley Road and Hudson Drive. “We anticipate starting construction of high-end flex-office space at that corner within a year,” he says. “There is a lot of latitude in our plan, but the ultimate goal is to create a premier work style center with a high office to warehouse ratio.”An existing 131,500-sf manufacturing plant built on the site in 1969 to make molds for heavy equipment tired will remain. With 24-foot high ceilings with cranes and reinforced floors for heavy equipment, it is well suited to manufacturing and distribution operations, says Juron.A feature that attracted Albrecht to the property, which it first inquired about two years ago, is the foreign trade zone status that exists on 18 acres of the property encompassing the manufacturing plant. “The personal property tax abatement on inventory inside a foreign trade zone was very appealing to us,” says Juron. “It can result in annual savings for our tenants of as much as two percent of the value of their inventory.”Albrecht is applying to extend that status to cover the entire 71 acres east of a railroad track that runs through the property. Juron says the company will apply for foreign trade zone status on the remaining land sometime in the future.Another attraction for Albrecht was the recent acquisition of 57 acres to the north of the property by Geis Construction of Streetsboro, which also plans to build a multi-tenant industrial park. “There is a level of validation and comfort in knowing that they will be developing the land adjacent to ours,” says Juron.AODK, a Cleveland architectural firm, is master planning the site with Albrecht and Grubb & Ellis, the listing real estate agent. Likely amenities could be day care and elder care centers, walking and running trails, a water feature and wireless technology. “Goodyear fielded several lease inquiries while the property was on the market, but it wanted to sell the property, not become a landlord,” says Juron. “We want to be a landlord, and we have already entered negotiations with several prospective tenants.”