Smithers cancels move to downtown Akron facility

AKRON — Laboratory and testing services enterprise Smithers Group has canceled plans to move its operations to a space in downtown Akron, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic "on financial arrangements established as part of the project."

Smithers had disclosed plans in August 2019 to move its headquarters and about 200 employees to a redeveloped Austen BioInnovation Institute campus in downtown Akron from its existing site on West Market Street about a mile west of the downtown facility.

The project was valued at $16.9 million, which included funding from Summit County and the city of Akron.

"Despite the best efforts of Smithers, Akron Children's Hospital, the city of Akron and Summit County, the COVID-19 pandemic made the project untenable when everyone's focus needed to be on the health and safety of their employees, clients and communities," Smithers told Crain's Cleveland Business, a sister publication of Tire Business.

While the ABI project is dead, Smithers instead "has initiated a comprehensive search for a new campus" to bring its Akron-based employees together in a "transformational new home designed for agile operations and growth," the company added.

"The strategic reasons for a new Smithers global operations hub remain unchanged."

Summit County is working with the company to find a new site, Brian Nelson, county chief of staff, said. Local officials would like to see Smithers remain in Akron but, barring that, will work to keep them in the county, Mr. Nelson said.

However, the county will not offer the company incentives to get it to move from one Summit County community to another, he added.

Smithers' decision to pull out was a disappointment, but not one the county, city and the Development Finance Authority of Summit County (DFA) were unprepared for, Mr. Nelson said.

In the meantime, Mr. Nelson and other local officials are scouring Akron for a new potential site that will fit Smithers' needs — not an easy task for a company that needs both a laboratory facility and a lot of space.

"I think what they need is a 60,000- to 70,000-sq.-ft. building … and what they need is very specific. They need lab space for more than half that total space," Mr. Nelson said.

Smithers, which has been in Akron since 1925, describes itself as a multinational provider of testing, consulting, information, and compliance services. It maintains other facilities in the area, as well, including a Tire & Wheel Test Center in Ravenna, Ohio, and an 800-acre winter test center near Brimley, Mich.