An inspiring story...

To fully appreciate The Goodrich, one must acknowledge its proud past, its role in the community and the groundwork it has laid for an exciting future.

The year was 1871 when Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich relocated his small rubber company from Melrose, NY to Akron, OH. The company settled on the banks of the Ohio & Erie Canal and was neighbors with the former Diamond Rubber Company. In 1912, the two rubber companies merged and with constant construction over the next 30 years, BF Goodrich became the largest rubber factory in the world. With over 90 buildings by the end of WWII, the complex was a self-contained city with its own police, fire and medical services and boasted the first telephone system in Akron.

In 1987, operation “Green Grass” was scheduled to demolish the complex. The operation would cost BF Goodrich approximately $18 million and would have left an open pasture measuring 38 acres. However, Covington Capital Corporation, then a New York-based real estate development company, could see the extraordinary potential of property and purchased it from BF Goodrich. On the site of BF Goodrich’s 1871 rubber factory, the campus of Canal Place houses nearly 100 thriving businesses. From independent business ventures to Fortune 500 companies and corporate headquarters, there is a synergy that creates an entrepreneurial environment.

In 2021, a group of Akron/Cleveland investor’s purchased buildings 10 and 17 to convert the buildings to 139 high-end residences available for rent. The residences within the Canal Place campus are known as The Goodrich and opening Summer 2022.