Akron is getting ready to bulldoze a chunk of university real estate in the name of polymer progress, with city planners clearing the way for a pilot innovation facility that backers hope will kickstart a new cluster of labs, offices and high‑tech manufacturing jobs around the University of Akron.
The city's planning commission advanced the Lincoln‑Mill Redevelopment Plan on Friday, centering a University of Akron property in a 39‑acre makeover near the edge of downtown. The proposal calls for the Lincoln Building to be demolished starting in June, so a new pilot polymer facility can rise next door to the university's National Polymer Innovation Center. Supporters say the lab could be open by late next year, a potential seed for a larger innovation district tied to campus.
The planning commission's May 15 endorsement pushes the Lincoln‑Mill plan toward formal adoption and would let the city use tax‑increment financing to improve properties inside the footprint. As reported by Signal Akron, the redevelopment zone covers two churches, a gas station, and five residences, and the mix of new zoning and financial incentives is pitched as a way to make the block more appealing to polymer companies and their suppliers.
University partners and the Polymer Industry Cluster say the pilot facility will sit on the Lincoln Building site and is meant to help young firms scale up new materials. "What's tens of jobs today will be hundreds of jobs in a couple years and thousands of jobs in a decade," Marshall Moore, a senior adviser with the cluster, told Signal Akron. Moore said demolition of the Lincoln Building should begin in June and take about three months, followed by roughly a year of construction.
Pilot Facility At 100 Lincoln Street
The Polymer Industry Cluster's Design‑Build request for qualifications places the pilot facility at 100 Lincoln Street and outlines a roughly 19,000‑square‑foot building with four main process bays plus supporting utilities and storage. The RFQ describes the site as handling initial scale‑up runs of about 10-100 kilograms so researchers and startups can move promising prototypes toward manufacturing without having to build a full‑blown plant, according to the Polymer Industry Cluster. A modular layout is planned so multiple projects can run at the same time and growing companies can avoid hefty upfront costs.
Money And Approvals
Funding is already being stacked. The Greater Akron Chamber says $1 million in congressionally directed spending has been secured to buy processing equipment for the pilot facility and notes that the broader cluster effort has pulled in more than $100 million in recent awards. The Downtown Akron Partnership reports that the State of Ohio awarded $31.25 million to the Greater Akron Polymer Innovation Hub, paired with about $10.4 million in local matching support, and that construction of the pilot facility has been tentatively slotted for Q2 2026. Backers say the public money is designed to cut startup costs for emerging firms and lure private investment into the district.
Local Reaction And Next Steps
University and city officials are pitching the move as both a nod to Akron's polymer roots and a near‑term jobs play for students and technicians coming out of local programs. "The University of Akron is excited to make room for the polymer facility project," UA President R.J. Nemer said in the site announcement.
With the planning commission's endorsement in hand, the redevelopment plan now heads to City Council for consideration. Public notices list the Lincoln‑Mill plan on the planning commission's May 15 agenda, and officials will be watching to see whether the promise of a next‑generation polymer hub is enough to carry the project through its next round of votes.
