Goodyear’s new corporate headquarters reached another milestone on Friday — it was topped off.Seven months after ground broke on the project off Innovation Way (formerly Martha Avenue) next to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s tech center, the Akron tire maker held a topping off ceremony with the last major steel beam hoisted by crane and put into place.The beam was the one signed by hundreds of Goodyear employees last month.Goodyear employees went to the Goodyear Theatre to watch a live video feed of the afternoon ceremony.“The building represents a significant milestone in Goodyear’s long history, so it is important – and fun – to recognize such a big moment,” Richard Kramer, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Just as the company has evolved into a modern global business, we are transitioning from our 85-year-old headquarters to a state-of-the-art campus.”The seven-story, 639,000- square-foot building will hold about 2,000 people and is expected to be completed in 2013 with employees moving there from East Market Street in March that year. The structure will be connected to what Goodyear calls its Innovation Center where another 800 people now work.The unfinished global and North American headquarters structure is already a good recruiting tool, said Rob Kovitz, Goodyear manager of college relations and recruiting.“It’s already helping in our recruiting efforts,” Kovitz said. “It gives us great talking points.”He said when he and other Goodyear recruiters visit college campuses around the nation, their presentations include showing graphic representations of a finished headquarters building.“It helps quite a bit,” Kovitz said. A state-of-the-art headquarters is a major attraction to top college graduates, he said.“Let’s face it, the top talent has a lot of opportunities,” he said.Building a new headquarters in Akron also speaks very well of where the company is going, he said.The 27-year Goodyear veteran is among the employees who signed the steel beam that was the center of Friday’s activity. The beam prominently featured an evergreen tree, a symbol of growth and good luck. The beam and its signatures will remain visible to visitors when the headquarters is completed.As part of the complicated public and private financing involved, Goodyear will lease the headquarters through 2038 with renewal options that can keep the company in Akron through 2093.Once employees are moved, the current and aging Goodyear campus is expected to be upgraded and reused in what is being called the Riverwalk project by its new owner, California-based developer Industrial Realty Group. The Goodyear and Riverwalk development plans, which were delayed and revamped because of the Great Recession’s financial crisis, includes redeveloping a significant part of the East Akron neighborhood.Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com