May I post pure speculation here?

 

"We've been negotiating for quite a while," Ruby said. "It's the most spectacular place I've ever seen."

 

Jeff Ruby eyes Cleveland for next restaurant

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/09/12/jeff-ruby-eyes-cleveland-for-next-restaurant.html

 

May I post pure speculation here?

 

"We've been negotiating for quite a while," Ruby said. "It's the most spectacular place I've ever seen."

 

Jeff Ruby eyes Cleveland for next restaurant

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/09/12/jeff-ruby-eyes-cleveland-for-next-restaurant.html

 

Nice find, but I'm guessing the Garfield building at E 6th & Euclid. On Jeff Ruby's twitter account, he confirms he's opening a restaurant in Cleveland after someone posted a picture of Ruby's truck next to the Garfield building on E 6th.

 

I know the Ruby reputation (and fondly remember my college-age date-night splurges at his Precinct and Waterfront in Cincy), so this is really great news for downtown CLE. But, looking at the Jeff Ruby website... the menu prices are just "wow".. even by expensive steakhouse standards.. Oh, but still can't wait to go...

 

http://www.jeffruby.com/files/pages/36/menu.pdf

 

 

Early rumor Department! Look for a new hotel flag 'Canopy by Hilton' to sign an LOI for the 925 Euclid conversion. Sometime late in the year or early '16.

^Would be good news, of course, but as the John Hartness Brown Bldg project makes clear, doesn't tell us all that much about a project's imminence or viability, unfortunately.

^Would be good news, of course, but as the John Hartness Brown Bldg project makes clear, doesn't tell us all that much about a project's imminence or viability, unfortunately.

 

I'm no hotel expert, but wouldn't you give Hilton a lot more credibility?

^The hotel flag isn't developing the building. It's just expressing strong (and probably not legally binding at the LOI stage) interest in occupying hotel space if the developer can get it built. It's crucial for getting this kind of project to happen, so good news, but it is just one of many things that needs to fall into place.

 

EDIT: I'm not trying to be downer, just don't want people to think this would mean the project is definitely on or construction is about to start or anything like that. I bet we're still years away from anything happening. Still need to line up lots of public subsidy, I imagine.

Old technique for selling property figures in sales of two landmark properties

September 28, 2015

STAN BULLARD

 

Holding paper. No, it’s not reading a printed newspaper.

 

Instead, it is the way real estate types refer to building owners writing their mortgage on a property as they sell it to another group. It gets them out of the property but gives them a way to recoup control if the buyer fails to meet terms of the mortgage and ante up.

 

During the credit crisis surrounding the Great Recession, when banks were notorious for not lending, I expected to see many more deals with sellers holding paper than I did. Perhaps that’s because the downturn was so deadly that few properties sold. Now that banks are again turning to real estate lending to make money, some interesting cases of sellers holding paper have nonetheless surfaced.

 

First, Miami Beach, Fla.-based Optima International received the $12.5 million that Delray Beach, Fla.-based Hudson Holdings owed it on the sale of 925 Euclid Ave. — the former Huntington Building — in downtown Cleveland.

 

MORE:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20150928/BLOGS14/150929836/old-technique-for-selling-property-figures-in-sales-of-two-landmark

May Co., 925 Building, former Goodyear campus vie for big state tax credit (photos)

By Michelle Jarboe McFee, The Plain Dealer

on October 06, 2015 at 7:00 AM, updated October 06, 2015 at 8:30 AM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Two largely empty downtown Cleveland behemoths will vie against the former Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. headquarters in Akron for up to $25 million in coveted state tax credits this fall.

 

Sept. 30 was the deadline to apply for a December round of tax-credit awards that support historic preservation. Three properties – the May Co. building on Public Square, the former Huntington Building on East Ninth Street and the old Goodyear complex – are seeking a special credit reserved for projects with the most powerful economic punch, according to an applicant list provided to The Plain Dealer.

 

All three redevelopments missed out in late 2014, when the state awarded its first such "catalytic" tax credit to a planned makeover of Cincinnati Music Hall, a late-1800s performance venue. Now the runners-up are competing again.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/10/may_co_925_building_former_goo.html

Hey, wasn't this already posted for discussion on the May Company page?

<<Snap!>>

So, there are several applicants for the tax credits.  Is there a total of $25MM for the taking that can be divided up between several projects?

So, there are several applicants for the tax credits.  Is there a total of $25MM for the taking that can be divided up between several projects?

 

This is the new lump sum catalytic credit that Music Hall in Cincy was awarded last year.

Ok, so I guess the slew of smaller projects listed below in the article are part of a different tax credit program?

Ok, so I guess the slew of smaller projects listed below in the article are part of a different tax credit program?

 

Same program, different category.

Just noted that this year's Downtown Cleveland Alliance Winter Wine & Ale Fest will be held here on Saturday, November 28 following the conclusion of WinterFest in Playhouse Square. In past years, they used 200 Public Square for the event. I cannot make it unfortunately, but if anyone else goes, feel free to snap pictures of the lobby!

 

http://www.downtowncleveland.com/events/winter-wine-ale-fest.aspx

So wkyc did a 'live' interview with Avi Greenbaum from Hudson Holdings Sat. morning from the 925 lobby. He indicated that the lobby will be very active as an event space thru next summer and that construction will start in October. He described the project as a 300 room hotel with residences and office space. What's interesting is that he offered the October start date without knowing the outcome of the tax credits. He said construction would take 2 years for the whole project. So is this an indication that it will move fwd with or without the credits?

 

I had never been inside there before, so I signed up to volunteer for the winter wine and ale fest last night for the sole reason of being able to see the lobby. Wow, what a space.

 

 

Good news.  I'm surprised more of these developers weren't ahead of the curve with the RNC site selection here, but we'll take it.    Crossing my fingers that all this downtown hotel and residential will complete before the next stock market "Correction" (Crisis).

Huntington Garage in downtown Cleveland sold for $16.25 million, renovations planned

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/12/huntington_garage_in_downtown.html

Bump

Michelle makes it official:

 

Former Huntington Building wins $25 million 'catalytic' tax credit for mixed-use overhaul

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A $270 million plan to revive a nearly vacant building at one of downtown's most visible intersections got a big boost Wednesday, with the announcement of a highly coveted, and competitive, tax-credit award for the project.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/12/former_huntington_building_win.html

 

You know the Heinens bros are loving this news.

AWESOME!!!

We all know how giant this thing is, but to put it in perspective, the activity generated by this project is probably comparable to the full build-out of the Weston/Citymark WHD proposal. Fewer apartments (about half as many), but a 279 room hotel, lots of retail space, and "several hundred thousand square feet" of office space.

 

Also, I don't know if it was reported on UO previously, but Michele's article has been updated to include info about the hotel flag: will be Curio (an "independent" Hilton affiliate).

 

Also, also, while we all know not to believe anything till we see the workers on site, the developers claim their financing is in place and their development plan is finished, so, presumably, they are ready to get going.

I'm all for mixed use, but not particularly a fan of mixing residential with office.

This building is well over a million square feet with multiple entrances. It shouldn't be a problem to mix uses in a building with this scale and floorplate size.

^Plus many elevators, I imagine, making it pretty easy to segregate uses.

 

Early rumor Department! Look for a new hotel flag 'Canopy by Hilton' to sign an LOI for the 925 Euclid conversion. Sometime late in the year or early '16.

 

Well this guy gets a gold star for sharing a true rumor (close enough, anyway, if the "canopy" part isn't right).

So we are now looking at 700+ new apartments just on that corner.  Nice.

Tax credits a gift to Huntington Building and Euclid Avenue: editorial

By Editorial Board

on December 19, 2015 at 7:00 AM, updated December 19, 2015 at 7:06 AM

 

Downtown Cleveland has many beautiful structures. One of the most stunning, at least on the inside, is the former Huntington Building on the northeast corner of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue.

 

The 21-story building's massive L-shaped lobby includes large marble columns and murals painted by Jules Guerin, whose works also appear inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/12/tax_credits_a_gift_to_huntingt.html

Crain's editorial: A needed spark

January 03, 2016 UPDATED 5 DAYS AGO

 

Downtown Cleveland’s resurgence got a boost in mid-December when the state announced the Union Trust Building at 925 Euclid Ave., better known as the former Huntington Building, would receive a $25 million tax credit.

 

As tax credits go, that’s a whale.

 

And the fact that it swam upstream to Cleveland (Cincinnati got the last such grant), means Cleveland can eliminate a white elephant in the downtown core and keep the city’s redevelopment rolling.

 

Some developers expressed dissatisfaction when the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program awarded the grant to 925 Euclid Ave. over the historic May Co. building, which also needs to be redeveloped and needs the financial help to make that happen.

 

MORE:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160103/VOICES01/151239970/crains-editorial-a-needed-spark

The headline stopped me until I saw the publication...

 

Florida Jew gives former Huntington Building new life

Posted: Wednesday, January 6, 2016 3:23 pm | Updated: 9:47 am, Thu Jan 7, 2016.

CARLO WOLFF | STAFF REPORTER

[email protected]

 

Now that Hudson Holdings has secured a coveted $25 million state tax credit, the Florida-based development firm plans to start demolition and renovation of the former Huntington Building at the heart of downtown Cleveland in early summer 2016.

 

Rebranded as the 925 Building – its address is 925 Euclid Ave., the northeast corner of Euclid and East 9th Street – the former bank headquarters, which opened as the home of Union Trust in 1924, was purchased in June for $22 million by Hudson Holdings, the Delray Beach firm where Andrew “Avi” Greenbaum is a principal.

 

On Dec. 16, Greenbaum held a news conference in the lobby to announce that his project had won a “catalytic” tax credit from the Ohio Development Services Agency. It was the largest part of a total of $37.8 million in such credits. These credits are awarded every two years.

 

MORE:

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/florida-jew-gives-former-huntington-building-new-life/article_5434b86a-b4b3-11e5-9196-13f56ab792e8.html

Hudson Holdings, owner of former Huntington Building, buys Statler Garage in downtown Cleveland

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hudson Holdings, the owner of the former Huntington Building on Euclid Avenue, has purchased the nearby Statler Garage to secure parking for a $280 million redevelopment project.

 

Andrew "Avi" Greenbaum, a Hudson principal, confirmed that his company bought the 315-space parking garage in a transaction that closed late Monday. Public records related to the sale haven't popped up yet, but Greenbaum said the purchase price was $6 million.

 

The garage, at 1111 Euclid Ave., sits just west of the Statler Arms apartments. It's not connected to the former Huntington Building, now called the 925 Building. But the parcels of land beneath the buildings actually do touch.

 

And the empty John Hartness Brown Building complex, which separates the 925 Building and the garage, could be up for grabs. The JHB property, once earmarked for a Le Meridien hotel, is the subject of a foreclosure dispute in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and is under the control of a court-appointed receiver.

 

More at: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/02/hudson_holdings_owner_of_forme.html#incart_river_home

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an idea. Tear down the Ohio Savings building and annex; put in an underground parking garage like was done for Key Center; and extend Perk Park to E. 9th street. A long shot, yes, but it could be done, and the CBD would be even more desirable for both office tenants, and residents with a larger park. The co's now in the Ohio Savings would either fill in other available office space, or even a new office tower.

 

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, mjarboe[/member] is the best that Cleveland.com has to offer.

 

That said, it's crazy to me that this building never had true parking. Now, with over a thousand potential residents, hotel guests and employees, retail employees and offices, it'll be interesting to see if this pushes a move to more car-free/light uses for the property. The fact that they're also talking about the 315 spaces potentially being used for whatever happens with JHB and CAC in addition to already being used for Statler apartments is interesting to me. Eagerly anticipating RNC being over so we can really start to see some development!

Docket A-49-16 925 Euclid Avenue WARD: 3

(Joe Cimperman)

HH Cleveland Huntington, LP C/O Newmark Management, Owner of the Property appeals from an ADJUDICATION ORDER—(special event venue occupant load of 2,120), dated March 07, 2016; appellant appeals for temporary occupancy of the first floor of the 925 Building, stating that the area being proposed for the expanded temporary occupancy is a three-story atrium with a ceiling height of 60’ +/-, which was recently partially upgraded with smoke detection devices in ancillary areas immediately adjacent to the assembly area. The area has neither an automatic sprinkler system nor automatic smoke control system, both of which will be installed at a later date as a part of a multi-million dollar renovation of the entire building. The Appellant is ready and willing to provide any reasonable temporary measures, including a fire watch per the direction of the Fire Marshall, to facilitate the safe operation of the venue when it would exceed the previously approved maximum of 805 persons.

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/bza/bbs.html

Not sure if this is a sign of anything larger but I have noticed a scaffold on the Chester side of the building over the last couple of weeks, seemed like they were inspecting the facade.  Today I was walking along the Chester side and noticed what seemed like some demo/construction work through the windows down below the street level all along the Chester side.

Here's an idea. Tear down the Ohio Savings building and annex; put in an underground parking garage like was done for Key Center; and extend Perk Park to E. 9th street. A long shot, yes, but it could be done, and the CBD would be even more desirable for both office tenants, and residents with a larger park. The co's now in the Ohio Savings would either fill in other available office space, or even a new office tower.

 

Tear down an in-use office building for even more greenspace downtown? And add a gap to East 9th Street in the process? No thanks.

There's a big, recently renovated and very popular park right behind Ohio Savings.

I had access to this great building on Saturday and took a few photos.  The basement vault is ridiculously huge.

There were also new plans for the renovation project that just happened to be sitting on an easel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Backside of JHB buildings

 

 

 

...and you DIDN'T take a picture for us to see? What kind of urban development fan are you?!

 

Edit: The interiors of this building are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!

WOW

...and you DIDN'T take a picture for us to see? What kind of urban development fan are you?!

 

Edit: The interiors of this building are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!

 

Almost appears that they plan balconies on the interior light wells?

 

Hotel lobby off of Euclid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't understand. There already are balconies on the second and third floors of the interior skylight concourses. Looks like this plan will make use of what's already there.

Don't understand. There already are balconies on the second and third floors of the interior skylight concourses. Looks like this plan will make use of what's already there.

 

Balconies in here.

 

A-ha! Wow.

^ Now that's an image of Downtown Cleveland you don't get to see everyday...  Thanks!

Wow- what a gorgeous building. Exciting project, for sure!

So what is / are "Residential Incubator(s)"? I was thinking "micro" apts., but those are listed on the level with the blue rooms.

I attended a meeting with the architect / historic preservationist and they are planning to do balconies in the interior concourses with mod-looking privacy screens. From what I understand, the residential incubators are meant to attract entrepreneurs/work from home types.

Hard to tell from the floor plan, but it may refer to the 'dorm style' living that is becoming more popular. Basically smaller rooms with more common areas where residents are encouraged to hang out and be social rather than holed up in their apartment 24/7.