“The Crowne Plaza -Quaker Square hotel has officially been renamed the Quaker Square Inn at the University of Akron. It will remain both a residence hall with a student dining facility and a hotel with retail stores. These decisions were approved Wednesday at the board of trustees meeting.”
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The Crowne Plaza -Quaker Square hotel has officially been renamed the Quaker Square Inn at the University of Akron.

It will remain both a residence hall with a student dining facility and a hotel with retail stores.

These decisions were approved Wednesday at the board of trustees meeting.

Business tenants and retail shops will remain in the facility and their contracts will continue to be honored, according to a UA press release. The retail stores will remain open indefinitely.

The logical thing would be to renew the good businesses and if there are some that aren’t successful maybe we’ll bring in some other businesses, said vice president of capital planning Ted Curtis.

We’ll keep the stronger ones, but in the meantime we’re seeking ideas from people on the campus about how they could be used.

Quaker Square has been operated by RDA Hotel Management Co. for the past year. Curtis said a transition team has been working with RDA and the hotel faculty and staff to keep current employees.

We’re interviewing those people, some want to stay, some are at a point near retirement and they don’t want to deal with a new employer, he said. We’ll use some and we’ll bring some new people in, and others will retire.

Curtis also said the restaurant will definitely be used as a dining facility for students in conjunction with a restaurant for guests.

We may have one restaurant for students only, and we may have another one for the public and the hotel guests, he said. We’re not sure yet whether we’re going to separate it or just mix them.

Quaker Square will start operation as a residence hall after Jan. 1, 2008, according to the UA press release.

Students currently living in residence facilities that are placed in the planned area of InfoCision Stadium, mainly those in East Quad near the Rec Center, will likely move to Quaker Square, Curtis said.

According to Curtis, hotel guests and students will live safely with students.

He said a system will give guests a key card at check-in that will only be programmed allow them access to the first four floors with the elevator.

Students will use their Zip card to take them to the top four floors, but not those with hotel guests.

With a student key card I can’t get off on the first, second third and fourth, and with a hotel key card I can’t go up to the student’s floors, Curtis said.

The board of trustees approved the purchase of Quaker Square from Jay Nusbaum in June for $22.6 million.

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