SummaCare’s move down East Market Street delayed until March

Oct. 27--SummaCare's big move down East Market Street to new headquarters will happen later than originally anticipated.

The Akron-based health insurance plan, originally created to provide managed care for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., announced earlier this year that it would be moving headquarters and more than 300 employees from downtown Akron to the former Goodyear campus now known as the East End.

The move was supposed to happen in November; it will now happen in March, a Summa Health spokesman said.

When asked about the move, Summa spokesman Jim Gosky said this in an email:

"In collaboration with the developer, we have made the decision to delay the move to Akron's new East End neighborhood until March of next year. A move of this magnitude is complicated, and this decision will allow for additional time to ensure all details are completed to our satisfaction. This change also provides an opportunity to complete our current busy open enrollment season without the distraction of having to change locations."

SummaCare has been in its present home, a five-story building put up on 6.9 acres that previously was the site of the former Portage Hotel, since December 2002. Developer Signet Enterprises broke ground on that building at 10 N. Main St. in February 2001; the estimated construction cost was $12.5 million.

SummaCare officials have said its current headquarters at Main and Market streets is now too large. The health insurer said it signed a three-year lease for 65,000 square feet of space at the East End that will put all of its employees on one floor.

East End owner and developer Industrial Realty Group, also known as IRG, has said SummaCare would be the first significant business tenant in the complex off East Market Street. IRG, which specializes in redeveloping aging industrial properties, purchased the former Goodyear campus and built Goodyear's new headquarters just a short distance away in East Akron on Innovation Way.

In a statement, Carol Smith, IRG vice president, confirmed the delay.

Plans for the 1.4 million-square-foot East End Offices "involve the reconstruction of 65,000 square feet of space for SummaCare, an innovative and inviting lobby and cafe, creation of an internal courtyard, a 7,000-square-foot fitness center, and a covered bridge that will span the Little Cuyahoga while connecting our largest surface lot to the building.

There is interest in the space that will be vacated downtown by SummaCare once the insurer moves.

Earlier this month, Akron Public Schools Superintendent David James said the district is considering acquiring the building as the possible new school administration building.

James said district officials are "analyzing data and costs as part of the due diligence process."

James said the district will not ask for additional funds from taxpayers to pay for any consolidation of administrative services.

The building is 100,000 square feet and enough space for the district's offices now in two buildings, he said. The building also has 500 parking spaces.

The school district's offices are in the Conrad C. Ott Building at 65 Steiner Ave., the former Miller School south of downtown, which houses educational administration; and the Sylvester Small Administration Building at 70 N. Broadway, the former Bowen School downtown.

On Friday, school spokesman Mark Williamson said the district has been kept updated on SummaCare's move and the delay gives the district more time to do its research.

Staff writer Jim Mackinnon contributed to this report. Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or [email protected]. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or http://www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at http://www.ohio.com/betty

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