The city has a buyer for a piece of land on White Pond Drive and it could mean more than just money for Akron.

Florida company Rendina LLC wishes to purchase the former Zazo property to build a medical office complex. It could create up to 40 news jobs according to city officials.

This would be the first sale of the 70 acres available for development.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic will ask for City Council's approval for this purchase tonight.

“We hope that this development will spur more office development within the new White Pond Office Park consistent with our original plan to add more job opportunities for our residents,” Plusquellic said in a city press release.

As Bridgestone Firestone prepares to open its new Technical Center this Spring, the company has been quietly trimming its payroll company-wide, including Akron. 

Bridgestone spokesman Dan McDonald tells AkronNewsNow " We've gone through really over the last really two years we've gone through a fairly significant process of streamlining the business, and consolidating some functions, and Akron was certainly affected by that."

McDonald says the process is continuing, although most of the streamlining is done for now. He has no firm numbers as to the total number of employees who've lost their jobs.

" We did consolidate some functions. There were some job reductions as a result of that, and some of that process continues. it is a somewhat continuous process that doesn't end," says McDonald.

A consultant was called in to make suggestions on where the trimming and consolidations should take place.

But McDonald denies there will be any further significant layoffs when the company moves into the new building. He says the Technical Center will actually have room for more employees if the company would in the future have to move other research and development staff there.

The new Bridgestone Technical Center should open by April with about 600 employees moving to the new building and the adjacent computer center.