CAN YOU hear it?
There's a buzz, just the hint of an undercurrent barely on the edge of perception, but a buzz nonetheless. If you listen carefully, you can make it out: downtown Toledo is on the verge of becoming "the place to be."
The announcement of a plan by the Eyde Co., owners of the former Fiberglas Tower, to renovate the 39-year-old fixture in Toledo's skyline is just the latest - and by no means the least - of a string of positive developments that could transform the Glass City.
Resurrecting the Tower on the Maumee, as it has been styled since Owens Corning vacated Toledo's first modern skyscraper in favor of a campus-like setting along the Maumee River in 1996, would make this once-proud emblem of the city's corporate past a symbol instead of a downtown in resurgence.
Nick Eyde, a limited partner in the Lansing-based Eyde Co., said it may take as much as $35 million to refurbish the 392,000-square-foot structure into a mixed-use building with 49 condominiums, a 96-room hotel, and 120,000 feet of office space, including a restaurant and - emblematic of a full-service downtown - a health club.
The first step in that process already has been taken, with City Council authorizing Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's office to seek a $3 million grant through the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund to remove asbestos from the building.
Mr. Eyde said Fifth Third Field and the downtown arena currently under construction show that "Toledo is actually approaching its downtown the right way." Despite the moribund economy and contracting real estate market, he said, "we do feel there is a desire to be back in downtown areas and, relatively speaking, downtown Toledo has a lot to offer."
We are especially heartened by the fact that the building may already have an influential supporter. Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the state's development director, toured the empty building a decade ago and said as recently as last year that the image of the once-proud Fiberglas Tower in need of new life stuck with him. He is now in a position to help provide that new life.
A cautionary note is in order, however. Many plans to push downtown development have been floated over the years, only to fade when put to the test, usually for lack of funding. So we will wait until there are workmen in the building before getting our hopes too high.
In addition, officials should not lose sight of the need for coordinated planning if development is to be lasting. The Eyde Co.'s plans for the Tower on the Maumee should fit into an overall vision and plan for growth in downtown Toledo that recognizes the city's needs and does not outstrip its resources.
That said, we are encouraged by the Eyde Co.'s desire to be in the forefront of what we hope will be a Glass City renaissance.
If their plans bear fruit, perhaps the building will fulfill the promise of Harold Boeschenstein, then chairman of Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp., who at the tower's 1967 groundbreaking called it "a beginning in the revitalization of downtown Toledo that will bring fresh pride to all of us who live and work here."
