3 Dog Pat

I think the deal was a bad one, but I liked the outside the box thinking. This wound up being a bad idea, but don't stop trying to be innovative.

Welcome, good luck. There is the thought in CLE that the East Side (Heights) has a East Coast character to it, while the west side is more Chicago-midwest. You may want to keep that in mind while you are looking.

How long do they have to be rentals before they can go condo?

Is there any chance the developers put that in there as a kind of place holder, like "coming soon, future retail" or something like that?

Neither. MMPI will own the convention center, all labor will be hired/managed by MMPI

Thanks

Where will the loading docks go?

^yeah, there is no way that those metal cables could ever have anything innovative like an heating element that would keep the cables above freezing. That is 1970's technology! ODOT is very cozy in the 1950's, thank you very much

The medical mart website has been beefed up. It has much more of a sales pitch nature to it, rather than a someday, maybe project feel to it. www.clevelandmedicalmart.com One passage talked about the mall. Anyone ever been to the Yerba Buena gardens in San Fran? Re-engerize Mall Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center provides an opportunity for the city of Cleveland to repurpose and reenergize its existing public space. A grand entrance to the Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center overlooking the Mall will create a warm welcome to medical professionals, convention attendees and visitors. The Mall, originally envisioned by Daniel Burnham, will be improved and expanded drawing more people to experience the beautiful park and lakefront views. This project gives the city the opportunity to emulate the Millennium Park in Chicago and Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, which have been so transformative to those cities.

Detroit's MGM Grand temporary casino cost $220M How many ballot initiatives have the casino industry funded over the past two decades? The casinos have the money to do this. They are only able to build out the temporary casino at the Higbees site. The quicker they can open, the quicker they can turn a profit. Are you certain of the costs that would be needed for the office space and rotunda to be brough up to code? Are you also certain that any renovations would have absolutely no positive effect on potential future buyers? What are your plans for the AT property for the next 5 years? How are you propose to settle the competing claims for the hotel bed tax that MMPI and Positively Cleveland both want? Where would you put the visitor's center? Is it as good of a location as the Higbee's building? There is an opportunity here to kill a lot of birds here with one stone.

I am saying that the casino can only go certain places per the constitutional amendment, and the only location they seem to be looking at is the Higbee's building. GCP is there now, and I assume they have a lease. So, GCP is in a position to to ask for a lot in return for moving. The casino does not have other options. The idea would be for GCP agreeing to move out contingent that the casino interests, whether that be Mr. Gilbert or the casino operator, pay for bringing the facilities up to code and for all relocation expenses.

^^I know they lease a lot of office space. Originally, that was the reason that they wanted to buy the property and build a county administration building there.

The casino

I got the 15,000sq. ft. number from this article City OK's Ameritrust Tower demolition http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20070629/FREE/70629020 ...Mr. Coyne said the county’s representatives made a persuasive case that the tower’s tiny 15,000-square-foot floors and other shortcomings made adaptive reuse problematic. When I first wrote up this idea, I said that the casino interests should pay to bring the building up to code, and all relocation expenses. Since the constitutional amendment only permits the casino to open in certain places, the ball is in GCP's court. With the convention center going under the management of MMPI, Positively Cleveland is going to lose a large percentage of funding that comes from the hotel tax. They are fighting it, so a compromise has to be made. Housing the group in a county building may be that compromise. So the crux of this idea is to leverage the urgency the casino operators have in order to open as quickly as possible, with the needs of the county to improve/find use for the AT tower along with the financial needs of Positively Cleveland. As for the lobby Developer bids to reuse Breuer & Ameritrust complex Despite some damage to the exterior lobby of the Breuer, including the demolition of a one-of-a-kind window treatment, Corna notes that the original lobby’s granite walls, floors, and concierge are still intact. http://www.gcbl.org/building/rebuilding-cities/historic-preservation/preservation-efforts-for-breuer-tower/developers-bid-to-reuse-breuer

Student4, welcome to urban ohio. We are happy to help, please keep the questions coming. Forumers, please keep in mind that this student turned to urban ohio as a resource. Let's be the adults here.

Continued from the Cleveland Casino thread This is all just an idea, I don't want to start anything, but Why would a visitor's center in a former bank lobby defile the building? According to crains, the group currently uses 150,000 square feet of space in the Higbee building. The Ameritrust tower has 15,000 square feet per floor. I am not sure how much of that space is the visitors center, but if is 30,000 sq. ft. you would still need 8 floors to match its current size. It may require more space due to the new set up. Now the building is 1/3 full. If this happens (a huge if) some county offices may move there as well. The Ameritrust Tower has its own lobby which was damaged during the asbestos removal. It would have to be made safe, but it would not have to be lavishly or extensively redone. I think using the Trust rotunda as a visitors center would make a beautiful front door for the city. It is located directly between the the two largest tourist destinations, North Coast Harbor and Gateway. Now that Europe is going through a banking crisis, the credit markets are going to lock up even more. Even if someone wanted the building for a project over the next two years, it will be difficult to get financing. So the county will be stuck with it for a while. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of reasons why this would not work, it is just an idea. But I would rather have the building have a use, even if it were only for a couple of years, rather than letting it sit and rot.

My thoughts on the CVB would be for the casino people to pay 100% of the relocation costs, since there are only a few consitutionally mandated spots they can put it. I am not sure what shape the Ameritrust tower is in, but if it can be quickly brought up to code, make the casino pay for it. Now the CVB is fighting the loss of part of the bed tax that the county and MMPI say it should go to convention center. By having them in the facility owned by the county, they could either cut them a good deal, to offset the loss of revenue, or have the rent money go to the convention center. If it works out, the county would then have a viable building to sell, or to make it the county HQ building once the temporary casino leaves.

Im thinking Ameritrust for a few years

well, technically the city owns the IX center, so that might be the new one

From the above article "The proposed new deal, spelled out in a letter of intent, contains at least one controversial provision that would give the city and county equal shares in any proceeds from naming rights for the new complex." I think the city is being a bit greedy here. The county is buying the convention center without Public Auditorium for $20M, the original figure for both.

Fair enough, but lets all get back on topic

When I lived on W. 44th, I always bought all my produce at the market, actually 99% of my food. This was 2003, but I never had a problem with spoilage or bad produce

I agree with most of that opinion piece, especially "...his [Mayor Jackson] sincerity and commitment to Cleveland are endearing. For a politician, he's as genuine as they come. And Chris Warren, the mayor's economic development chief, knows what he's doing."

I think MMPI, Cleveland Public Art and Parkworks working together on this can leverage some money.