The new Bridgestone-Firestone technical center will be built next to its existing research center on the south side of the city.
The 240,000-square-footfacililty replaces a tech center built in 1911. Firestone was bought by Bridgestone in 1988.
The company chose Akron over a site outside Nashville, Tennessee, where Bridgestone's American headquarters is located. Incentives include an estimated $68 million dollars in state, city and county tax breaks. The deal will will keep 1,000 jobs in Northeast Ohio.
Akron was chosen by a committee studying the move, but Bridgestone's board of directors in Japan still has to give its OK..
If that happens, construction will begin 2010 and the tech center is scheduled to be completed by 2012.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3