Akron Civic Theatre
Akron, Ohio

Akron Civic Theatre is the magnificent jewel in Akron’s downtown revival. Just six months before the stock market crash of 1929, the historic building opened its doors bringing live performances and quality entertainment to the Akron community. After seventy years of community service, Akron's exquisite landmark was deteriorating. In 2000 the Civic joined forces with the City of Akron, Summit County and Port Authority with the goal of restoring the theatre to its former elegance and expanding it into a premier performance space. The renovation was begun in October 2001 and completed in November 2002.

The Challenge:

Find financing for an ambitious community development project.
Facilitate the financial collaboration of public and private partners in the project.

Benefits of Working with SCPA

• The SCPA acted as a public revenue source for $14.5 million of the total funding.
• The SCPA’s flexible bidding procedures enabled effective balancing of costs and benefits for on-time and on-budget completion.
• The SCPA was pivotal in attracting funding to this public-private project.
• SCPA insurable bonds resulted in a reduced interest rate for lower overall costs.

Project Cost: $21 million

Source Funds:
$14,500,000 - Summit County Port Authority Bonds
$6,500,000 - Private Funding
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$21,000,000 - Total

Interest Rate: 
n/a

The Summit County Port Authority issued $14.5 million in fixed rate bonds to fund the project. The debt will be serviced from Summit County’s “bed tax” revenue. Additional funding for the project was raised by the Akron Civic Theater, local companies, and state, local and national foundations.

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