Why Cleveland?
October 2008
2008
Cleveland is truly happening. Though the US economy (and perhaps the global economy) is deep in recession, Cleveland continues to attract global interest and investment.
In June 2008, famous investor and advisor Jim Cramer predicted that it is “Cleveland Valley”—not Silicon Valley—that will save us from our current economic woes, as he says “Cleveland Valley” has had to rebuild itself and is now the home of new tech.
Here are a few of the telling signs of 2008 that Cleveland is on the move. Though many projects are underway, which began in 2006 or 2007, the following announcements were made of projects in the City of Cleveland, thus far in 2008:
January - University Hospitals announces development of a new $232 million cancer hospital at Euclid Avenue and Cornell Road in University Circle on their sprawling medical campus. Also to be built is a $42 million Center for Emergency Medicine.
March – A new convention center and adjacent Cleveland Medical Mart will be built in Downtown Cleveland at a location to be determined, as a deal with the Medical Mart developer and future operator of the convention center was struck with local officials this month. The Cleveland Medical Mart will be a constant showroom of medical supplies and technologies for the medical industry. As the leading center of medicine in the United States, Cleveland is the best location in which to build the medical mart, as well as a logical destination of international medical meetings and conferences.
April – Developer K&D Group received approval on their plans to convert an existing 29-story Marcel Breuer-designed office tower into a hotel (Hotel Indigo, announced in June, below) and 200 apartments at Euclid and E. 9th Street in Downtown Cleveland. The project also includes a new 13-story, 300,000-square-foot office building to be built immediately to the south.
May – Hotel chain 1 Hotel announces they are building a new five-star hotel with approximately 150 rooms at W. 11th St. and Main Ave. in the newly developing Flats East Bank neighborhood. The hotel will be Cleveland’s first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) hotel. Scheduled to open in 2011.
May – Continental Airlines begins new non-stop Paris-Cleveland service, as previously announced, despite significant cutbacks in the US airline industry of frequencies and routes amongst all major airlines.
May – Major developers Richard E. Jacobs Group and Hines announce their collaboration to construct a new 21-story office tower on Public Square in downtown Cleveland. The building would offer 500,000 square feet of office space.
June - Developer K&D Group close on the purchase of a former department store at 668 Euclid Avenue, Downtown, with plans to restore the historic exterior of the building and renovate the interior to approximately 240 apartments.
June – Hotel Indigo, part of the InterContinental Hotel Group, announces they will open a new 140-room boutique hotel in Downtown Cleveland at Euclid Avenue and E. 9th St., scheduled to open in Spring 2010.
June – After renovations, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s 1916 building reopens, the first part of a $350 million expansion and renovation of the museum, which in its final form will include two new wings joined to the center structures with a skylighted atrium. Located in the neighborhood called University Circle, the work at the museum is part of $2 Billion in projects planned or underway in this cultural and research district.
July —Groundbreaking planned for a revitalized Flats East Bank neighborhood, a fully green/environmentally sound (LEED-certified) community, to include 975,000 square feet of office space in two buildings, 600 residential units, restaurants, shops, and a hotel in a $500 million project along the east bank of the Cuyahoga River, immediately west of Downtown.
July — At University Circle, the cultural heart of the city packed with schools, museums, galleries, and music venues, a new development called the Uptown project will bring 102 new apartments, 50 condos, and approximately 180,000 square feet of street-level restaurants and stores. At one end of the project will be a new structure for the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and on the other, a new building for the growing Cleveland Institute of Art. Project investment will exceed $200 million and will break ground in Spring 2009, and was formerly announced this month. Additional info.
July — Developer MRN Ltd., will develop a new hotel in University Circle at E. 107 Street and Carnegie Ave. in an historic 1929 buildling that was originally the Tudor Arms Hotel. The building is 11 stories tall, with details forthcoming. The plan was announced this month on July 23rd. This new hotel represents the third such announcement made thus far in 2008 for a new hotel in the city. Additional info.
August — The US Federal Aviation Administration announced this month they are constructing a new air traffic control tower at the city’s main airport (Cleveland Hopkins International Airport [CLE]). The new tower, to open around 2012 will be taller (at 300 feet) and larger than the current tower, allowing for better views of the airfield, which is larger today than when the current tower was constructed. Additional info.
September — Having just completed $1bn in new buildings (see below), the Cleveland Clinic announced this month its plans to build a 100,000-square-foot reference laboratory to perform highly special medical and laboratory tests, that hospitals generally don’t perform themselves but send out to specialized labs. Only two other labs of such caliber exist in the US. The exact location to construct the new lab has not yet been decided upon, but Clinic officials stated that it the facility would be built on its main campus. Additional info.
Other major projects underway to be completed in 2008:
Medical: This September, as the medical sector in Cleveland continues to boom, three new buildings open at the Cleveland Clinic. The 10-story Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Pavilion at E. 93 and Euclid will be the new home of the Clinic’s world-famous cardiovascular program. The $500 million building contains 278 patient rooms, 12 VIP suites, 128 exam rooms, and 16 operating rooms. Adjacent to this building the new, $128 million 12-story Glickman Tower, headquarters of the Clinic’s Urological and Kidney Institute, with 16 procedure rooms and 74 exam rooms. At E. 89 St. and Carnegie, the Clinic’s giant, 168,000 sq. ft underground service center opens, which will house 4,000 parking spaces and a state of the art service center supporting the entire Clinic campus. Also, announced last month, the Clinic now positions two jets at Burke Lakefront Airport downtown, supported by a full medical staff, which will allow patients to receive Cleveland Clinic care before even landing in the city.
Mass Transit: The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s new $200 million bus rapid transit line, with a dedicated right of way and hybrid vehicles will debut later in 2008, running down Euclid Avenue between Downtown and University Circle. The line has been named the Health Line as it connects many of the city’s medical institutions with Downtown, and is spurring new development along its right of way.
Residential: Many other residential/condo projects underway, one of which is the “Avenue District” created by developer Zaremba. The 10-story building at St. Clair and E. 12th Street, with 62 units, will be complete in Fall 2008 and represents the beginning of a larger plan of 486 residential units in 15 buildings. Many other condo/townhouse residential projects are underway, recently completed, or planned in The Flats, Downtown, and University Circle to support a booming Downtown population.
See our latest map of Downtown Cleveland now.
