danmc

Don't forget the IX Center. It won't just go away...and look at the size of the IX Center and compare it to the size of the proposed new Cleveland Convention Center. Maybe this has all changed. See this from 2005: I-X Center boss nixes closure talk By JAY MILLER July 04, 2005 6:01AM The I-X Center lives. And its operator and users aren't going to abandon it quietly to ease the way for a new downtown convention center. Asked if he would relinquish his lease if a new, large convention center were built downtown, Ray Park, whose Park Corp. leases the mammoth I-X Center from the city of Cleveland, was brief and clear: "Absolutely not, under no circumstances," Mr. Park said. "The I-X Center is a going concern." The Convention Facilities Authority (CFA), the quasi-public agency created last year to make decisions about how to improve Cleveland's convention facilities, has been grappling with options for a new convention center on the site of the 45-year-old Cleveland Convention Center on the Mall. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which recently completed a study of the local convention and trade show market for the CFA, recommended the community build a center with a 300,000-square-foot exhibit hall, slightly bigger than the current hall, which offers 278,000 square feet of space. That would bring a new center's occupancy rate up to an acceptable level and maximize the impact on downtown. Last Friday, the CFA's planning committee voted to recommend that the CFA set a goal of building a 300,000-square-foot center. However, it also recommended that the CFA not disturb the I-X Center lease, which runs until 2014... more at: http://www.crainscleveland.com