mrclifton88

Today I got to take a hardhat tour of the Medical Mart & Convention Center after a brief presentation from Dave Johnson, the director of PR It was pretty amazing to finally see this in person and I took lots of pictures so get ready! :-P I will summarize what Mr. Johnson told us as some of it was very interesting and some of it has not been released publicly yet (so Shhhhh) Sorry for repeat information, I am sure some of what I will put is already known here. ALSO, I apologize for any errors in company names, etc. as this is based off my frantic note-taking :wtf: be kind! There are about 600 workers on site presently The project is 85% complete and continues to be 2 months ahead of schedule The Senior Games in 2013 will bring 35,000 people to downtown It will be the largest sporting event in the world in 2013 15,000 athletes Open/Closing ceremonies will be held on the malls, the Athlete Village will be in the CC GE Healthcare will create a "Disease Journey" showing the whole process of treating Breast Cancer, Alzheimer's, & Heart Disease 14 Pieces of equipment for Breast Cancer alone 3rd Floor will be displaying the health care of the future, Johnson Controls will be moving its national sales office here from Milwaukee UH + Phillips will work together in showing imaging technology 3 direct connection points to Public Auditorium which is in the process of being renovated as the money becomes available 59 booked events so far consisting of 250,000 approx. attendees, which means 98,000 approx. hotel room nights One "Hotel room night" generates about $1,000 The chief engineer for the complex was the chief engineer for One Cleveland Center at one time We have won events over Orlando, Philly, San Diego, Chicago and more They are in talks with a local TV news station to possibly have a studio in the MM building Ballroom is 32,000 and will be largest in Ohio. Completely column free He mentioned the possible Le Meridien and other hotels under construction right now but said we could lose business because we dont have enough hotel rooms at the moment. The current County headquarter building is obviously being thought of as a site for a new large parking deck and hotel It was brought out that as the demand for parking becomes much higher, parking lot owners may be choosing to build parking decks (with other development one can HOPE) instead of surface lots, especially since there is no dedicated parking for the complex The MM building will be public, open everyday, and will have some retail (something like a Starbucks, Au Bon Pan etc.) There will be extensive security to ensure access to certain areas can be restricted at times 4th floor will be for IT for healthcare. I missed something here but one of the tenants from the failed Nashville project will be taking this entire floor. Anyone know any IT related companies that were involved with that? Case University is the next tenant to be announced. They will have a simulation center, and school of Med. students will have a presence on-site, also CME (continued medical education) will be happening at an on-site location. Food service is by Levey (Spelling?) As of April 1st, tenants will be given access to the building to start designing spaces MM to open in October (with portions open before this) CC to open in July The MM name will be changed. Vocon will have some involvement ( I believe pertaining to signage but I could be mistaken) Thats it! Now the tour Entrance to MM Atrium First floor showroom space Entrance Hey, its me! This area will be a patio/garden type area that has the ability to be gated off and used as an event space 2nd floor space Looking back into the atrium 2nd floor catwalk Looking into the CC from the loading area Loading area for (I believe) 17 semis? and the ability to completely pull in and turn around Main CC space. This is absolutely enormous and you really have to see it to comprehend the space. Pre-function and reception area for the Grand Ballroom Entrance to ballroom Ballroom track for the room dividers Meeting space off the grand ballroom area Entrance to CC area from MM (I think) Mall A section of the main CC floor Covered are the escalators The End

Here is the other more updated rendering

Work on the Westin has definitely begun. Today they were already removing a portion of the facade on the Public Hall side of the building.

Then you should visit the I love Cleveland thread. :P ;) At what point? At 0:18 awkwardly laughing At 0:26 the back if my head in the board room At 0:41 awkwardly walking. All in all pretty awkward looking. :)

If Weston's plan was to build on a lot in the WHD, anyone know which one, and more importantly if that plan could be utilized with another tenant?

Here is the brochure from CBRE of the whole complex. It shows where everything is, even floorplans, etc. http://pmc.pdt.cbre.com/IG/cuyahoga/pdf/bro/Ameritrust.pdf Also the Swetland Building = 1010 Euclid in case anyone is unclear. I was :-P

Haha you caught me... although 8 stories in a modern building could be a nice height. All depends of ceilings, etc. I think its a perfect compliment to the tower, keeping it prominent. Cant wait for a RENDERING :)

Hopefully more info will come out of the 2:00 meeting... After seeing the pics of the Ameritrust tower interior (was that from KJP?) I think residential will be amazing, I want on that waiting list! The windows/view is spectacular. I wonder if theyve gone so far as to render this yet?

From Laura at the PD: "@lauraejjohnston: Fun stuff: New eight-story county office building will have a green roof overlooking #ProgressiveField. See you there on Opening Day 2015?" Can we combine this and the county HQ forums now?

The two HIDEOUS office buildings south of the tower on E. 9th that are connected by sky bridge. They will not be missed.

Surprise! I did NOT expect the county building new here. I do hope there is hope for the Huntington building but this will definitely be amazing for that intersection

Oooooh a leak! So exciting. I wanted to attend but I see I have a meeting scheduled at 2:30. Dang it! Maybe ill just "get lost" while I'm out at lunch.

Is this open to public?

PS does anyone know what time and where the announcement is supposed to be??

A little more... http://fox8.com/2012/12/10/cuyahoga-county-sells-ameritrust-tower/

Wow thanks for that picutre. There is a lot of potential here for a great renovation. I'd love to get a tour :-o

Has anyone been inside? I wonder how well it would transition to hotel use. From what I can see the original light fixtures, which are gorgeous, are still intact but you can't see much else. It'll be exciting to see who goes after this

Thanks for posting that

A sky bridge into the rotunda? Oh lord save us... You just opened a can of worms LOL

I'm very happy to report that for the first time (that I've seen) there is actual REAL work happening outside the Crowne Plaza/Westin!!!! Looks like they might be tearing up part of the front walk

I found a really cool page on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/literarycafe/sets/72157625801348856/?page=1 The guy takes a panoramic picture of the construction site everyday of the week

What is happening in the Key Bank Center (800 Superior) garage? There's been some heavy construction noise for the past few weeks and today it sounded like they were drilling. Is this related to the new tenants coming?

Those are probably good guesses. I'll be watching the news a lot today. Or, pop over to the rotunda today for the lunchtime concert and ask questions of the officials on hand. Please do! Shouldn't we be getting near official word? I forgot the timetable

I was in the "5th street arcades" today as was happy to see how busy it was, as well as the fact that there were workers in several of the empty storefronts painting and making repairs. Looks like there's a lot going on. Now I wish they could fix up the facade on Euclid. It needs help

Did goodfellas close? I can't figure out what's the deal with that place