City project gets $5M tax credit

The 28-story Fiberglas Tower, renamed the Tower on the Maumee, has been vacant since 1996. THE BLADE Enlarge | Buy This Photo

A downtown Toledo building has received a $5 million historic preservation tax credit from the state of Ohio. The Fiberglas Tower, which has been renamed Tower on the Maumee, has been vacant since 1996. Its owner, Lansing-based Eyde Co., plans a renovation that would create office space, a hotel, a retail area, and apartments.

The Ohio Department of Development awarded $35.8 million in historic preservation tax credits Tuesday to 18 owners planning to rehabilitate 44 historic buildings in 10 communities across the state.

"Saving Ohio's historic structures improves our communities and puts vacant buildings back into productive use, creating valuable jobs," said Christiane Schmenk, the state development department's director.

According to the department, the Tower project is expected to cost $47 million and is to include a Courtyard by Marriott hotel and 70 residential apartments as well as office and retail space.

Eyde Co. said the project would create 376 permanent jobs.

The 28-story building was constructed in the late 1960s with input from renowned architect I.M. Pei and was the centerpiece of a major downtown Toledo urban renewal project known as Riverview.

For more than 20 years after it was completed in 1969, the Fiberglas Tower -- an international-style design by the New York City firm Harrison & Abramovitz -- was headquarters for the company then known as Owens-Corning Fiberglas, one of three large glass manufacturers that earned Toledo the nickname "Glass Capital of the World."

The building became vacant when Owens Corning moved to its current headquarters on the Maumee River.