Akron is hoping to create a hub for advanced energy companies, with the first step being the renovation of an aging downtown building to become the new home to one of these businesses.Akron City Council heard additional details Monday about the administration’s plans for refurbishing the former Hamlin Steel headquarters building to house Echogen Power Systems, which Mayor Don Plusquellic announced Friday. The council is expected to vote on three pieces of legislation related to the proposal Monday. Akron is in competition with other cities in Summit County and elsewhere in the county that want to lure away Echogen, a company that converts “waste” heat into electricity and is expanding for the second time in four years. Officials with the company, however, say they plan to stay in Akron.“We want to build something here,” Mark Terzola, Echogen’s chief operating officer, told council members Monday during an Economic Development Committee meeting.Echogen began in Akron’s accelerator in 2007 and then moved to the city-owned, former Board of Relators building on High Street. The company received a $10 million cash infusion from a Texas company earlier this year. Under the proposed legislation:• Akron, through several funding sources, would invest $800,000 into renovations and the partial demolition of the Hamlin building at 58 W. Exchange St. The financing would include a $500,000 loan from the Akron Development Fund, $225,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, and $75,000 in a grant from FirstEnergy Corp.• The city would contract with Carmen Construction in Tallmadge for the improvements, which include redoing the electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning; removing asbestos; and demolishing the southern half of the building that has a collapsing roof. Parking would be added to the space where the building is being removed. City officials hope the work can be completed by the end of the year. • The city would lease the building to Echogen, which would pitch in $175,000 to the building improvements. The city would waive Echogen’s $80,000-per-year lease for two years. After this time, the terms of the lease would be renegotiated.• The city would repay the 10-year loan from the Akron Development Corp. using increased income-tax revenues — Echogen, which has 28 employees, plans to hire 17 more by 2013 — and, eventually, lease payments. Most of Echogen’s employees are engineers, who make an average of $110,000 a year. The initial interest rate of the loan would be 4 percent.Terzola said the company’s goal over the next two years is to continue to improve its product and get it out into the market.“We are excited to do this from the heart of Akron — from a visible place that will do nothing except enhance the city’s stature,” he said.The city is hoping Echogen will continue to flourish and grow and will eventually buy the Hamlin building. If the company doesn’t stay, Akron will have a renovated building that can be marketed to someone else, said Brent Hendren, with Akron’s economic development office.“If they go under or move, we have a building that is an asset,” he said. “It is now near deterioration. It’s a win-win for all of us.”Echogen may end up piloting its technology in Akron’s downtown steam plan, Hendren said.Akron plans to try to find a new tenant for the former Board of Relators building. The city bought the Hamlin building in 2003 for $675,000. It served as the temporary home for several entities, including Downtown Akron Partnership.City officials hope the renovated Hamlin building, with Echogen as its anchor tenant, will help attract more advanced energy companies to locate in Akron, Hendren said.In other business, the council passed a resolution supporting the operating levy for the Akron Public Schools on the Nov. 8 ballot.The council also approved a resolution urging the federal government to review its Clean Water Act Sewer Overflow Policy.Plusquellic, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and other city groups have been pushing for a reconsideration of these rules, which they argue place an unfair burden on cash-strapped cities and residents to pay for improvements for combined sewer overflow problems.“We want them to understand the hard times our residents have and take another look at this,” Plusquellic said. “We do not want to ignore the Clean Air Act, but to apply it in a way that is affordable.”Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.