June 3Jun 3 25 minutes ago, GISguy said:Data Centers don't employ 200 people.I did read in the article is said “up to 250” so that qualifier does worry me a little. But I’ll withhold judgement until the plan is revealed.
June 3Jun 3 Author Sorry "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3Jun 3 I-X Center will no longer host exhibition events, city of Cleveland plans to lure Fortune 500 company to buildingThis article says it is a Fortune 500 company. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/i-x-centers-days-as-an-exhibition-space-coming-to-an-end-in-deal-approved-by-cleveland-city-council ICP has indicated that a major corporation wants to rent one million square feet of space in the I-X Center, creating more than 200 new jobs.The I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, has a total of 2,200,000 square feet of space. This includes over 1,000,000 square feet of exhibition and conference space. The main level has 530,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space. The facility also includes a grand ballroom, 26 meeting rooms, and ample parking. https://fox8.com/news/i-x-center-one-step-closer-to-being-repurposed-what-it-would-mean-for-events/
June 3Jun 3 2 minutes ago, simplythis said:I-X Center will no longer host exhibition events, city of Cleveland plans to lure Fortune 500 company to buildingThis article says it is a Fortune 500 company.https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/i-x-centers-days-as-an-exhibition-space-coming-to-an-end-in-deal-approved-by-cleveland-city-councilICP has indicated that a major corporation wants to rent one million square feet of space in the I-X Center, creating more than 200 new jobs.The I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, has a total of 2,200,000 square feet of space. This includes over 1,000,000 square feet of exhibition and conference space. The main level has 530,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space. The facility also includes a grand ballroom, 26 meeting rooms, and ample parking. https://fox8.com/news/i-x-center-one-step-closer-to-being-repurposed-what-it-would-mean-for-events/Except the text literally says this: "clearing the way for a yet-to-be-named Fortune 100 company"The headline when I click the link does not match the one you posted.
June 3Jun 3 3 minutes ago, simplythis said:I-X Center will no longer host exhibition events, city of Cleveland plans to lure Fortune 500 company to buildingThis article says it is a Fortune 500 company.https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/i-x-centers-days-as-an-exhibition-space-coming-to-an-end-in-deal-approved-by-cleveland-city-councilICP has indicated that a major corporation wants to rent one million square feet of space in the I-X Center, creating more than 200 new jobs.The I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, has a total of 2,200,000 square feet of space. This includes over 1,000,000 square feet of exhibition and conference space. The main level has 530,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space. The facility also includes a grand ballroom, 26 meeting rooms, and ample parking. https://fox8.com/news/i-x-center-one-step-closer-to-being-repurposed-what-it-would-mean-for-events/The articles clearly say Fortune 100, just FYI
June 3Jun 3 Just now, Paul in Cleveland said:Except the text literally says this: "clearing the way for a yet-to-be-named Fortune 100 company"The headline when I click the link does not match the one you posted.Jinx! 😆
June 3Jun 3 Unless the incoming bomb says "sorry, it's all a scam", the only reason I could think of saying "sorry" is apologizing to all the people who don't want a Fortune 100 company to bring jobs to the region and who want the I-X Center to stay open and draw investment and conventions away from downtown lol
June 3Jun 3 My bet is on “sorry” means it’s going to be a distribution centerBut those are pretty high paying jobs if that’s the case Edited June 3Jun 3 by BoomerangCleRes
June 3Jun 3 5 minutes ago, Geowizical said:The articles clearly say Fortune 100, just FYISorry. The Channel 3 article is confusing and it say Fortune 500https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/i-x-center-no-longer-host-exhibition-events-city-of-cleveland-attract-fortune-500-company/95-bf30d6e8-39ae-44e5-b2f9-68e3377ed259
June 3Jun 3 38 minutes ago, Geowizical said:Unless the incoming bomb says "sorry, it's all a scam", the only reason I could think of saying "sorry" is apologizing to all the people who don't want a Fortune 100 company to bring jobs to the region and who want the I-X Center to stay open and draw investment and conventions away from downtown lolOnly want it kept open if they bring back the IX indoor amusement park... and the ferris Wheel 😄
June 3Jun 3 36 minutes ago, simplythis said:Sorry.The Channel 3 article is confusing and it say Fortune 500https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/i-x-center-no-longer-host-exhibition-events-city-of-cleveland-attract-fortune-500-company/95-bf30d6e8-39ae-44e5-b2f9-68e3377ed259Well, if its in the Fortune 100 it's by default in the F500 🤷♂️
June 3Jun 3 Author I-X Center’s new use revealedBy Ken Prendergast / June 3, 2025According to two sources familiar with the matter, the International Exhibition (I-X) Center next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will become a data center. And, according to one of those sources, the end user is likely to be Amazon Web Services.MORE:https://neo-trans.blog/2025/06/03/i-x-centers-new-use-revealed/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3Jun 3 Don't love the use but I love the idea of more traffic and people being pushed downtown. If Cleveland does indeed get a WNBA team perhaps the two combined will offset the loss of the Browns in terms of downtown impact.
June 3Jun 3 Great news. These projects while not employing a huge ton of people/sqft directly in the building do generate additional jobs indirectly in the region as well, and we need to keep up with the times in this region whether we like the data center use or not. Repurposing the I-X center also allows for precious undeveloped land in Cleveland MSA to be used for other purposes that aren't data centers. And on top of that, the idea of bringing additional conventions back downtown to offset a potential Browns loss is a win-win in my book.Huntington Convention Center needs to be on the phone like, yesterday, contacting all of the I-X conventions/shows to lock them in for downtown for the future. Edited June 3Jun 3 by Geowizical
June 3Jun 3 How many events does the I-X currently host per year on average? What kind of numbers are we potentially looking at for downtown? This could be a very positive development.This would almost justify an expansion of the CC north over the tracks. There’s your new land bridge. Step it down over the new Shoreway boulevard. This would also allow for an RTA Rapid station underneath it. Giving out of town convention goers a direct link from Hopkins to the CC and their hotel, on our fancy new rail cars. Would be even cooler if the downtown loop ever happens.
June 3Jun 3 Consolidating everything downtown and not letting the Haslams taking it to their development should be the goal. Our convention center's exhibit hall is pretty small. I'd b curious what event planners think... I imagine it's a little easier to work with a big, giant open space vs. a lot of nooks and crannies.
June 3Jun 3 39 minutes ago, KJP said:I-X Center’s new use revealedBy Ken Prendergast / June 3, 2025According to two sources familiar with the matter, the International Exhibition (I-X) Center next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will become a data center. And, according to one of those sources, the end user is likely to be Amazon Web Services.MORE:https://neo-trans.blog/2025/06/03/i-x-centers-new-use-revealed/Although the car/rv/boat shows won't translate well or even be compatible with Huntington Convention Center, everything else from the IX center should fit or be able to work over a few days. With 40-50 events per year and 1.5-2 million visitors each year, it'll certainly bring more people downtown. I think this is great news, overall.
June 3Jun 3 9 minutes ago, coneflower said:Consolidating everything downtown and not letting the Haslams taking it to their development should be the goal. Our convention center's exhibit hall is pretty small. I'd b curious what event planners think... I imagine it's a little easier to work with a big, giant open space vs. a lot of nooks and crannies.Could money allotted for the current iteration of the land bridge be redirected to a CC expansion that doubles as a land bridge? How do I tag Ronayne here? lolThis realistically could severely decrease the blow of the Browns moving.
June 3Jun 3 Everyone seems pretty confident that most of the events at the IX center will move to the downtown convention center. I certainly hope that is the case, but are we sure that many of these events won't just leave the Cleveland area altogether? I don't know that much about these things, I'm just not sure why everyone seems so confident that this wouldn't be the case. Anyone care to make the case for why we should be optimistic about these events mostly moving downtown?
June 3Jun 3 13 minutes ago, downtownjoe said:Although the car/rv/boat shows won't translate well or even be compatible with Huntington Convention Center, everything else from the IX center should fit or be able to work over a few days. With 40-50 events per year and 1.5-2 million visitors each year, it'll certainly bring more people downtown. I think this is great news, overall.6 minutes ago, Ethan said:Everyone seems pretty confident that most of the events at the IX center will move to the downtown convention center. I certainly hope that is the case, but are we sure that many of these events won't just leave the Cleveland area altogether? I don't know that much about these things, I'm just not sure why everyone seems so confident that this wouldn't be the case. Anyone care to make the case for why we should be optimistic about these events mostly moving downtown?The auto show was indeed going downtown when the IX center was going to be closed in 2020. Cleveland is a big enough market overall that these kind of shows will still go on. Many of these major shows occur in some variation in basically ever major city so it is not like things like the auto show will leave Cleveland for another city. https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/cleveland-auto-show-moves-downtown-plans-2021-event-december
June 3Jun 3 1 hour ago, KJP said:I-X Center’s new use revealedBy Ken Prendergast / June 3, 2025According to two sources familiar with the matter, the International Exhibition (I-X) Center next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will become a data center. And, according to one of those sources, the end user is likely to be Amazon Web Services.MORE:https://neo-trans.blog/2025/06/03/i-x-centers-new-use-revealed/So as discussed they’ll need a second location for their back up…. So could that be the new building downtown that’s angling for data centers large enough for a back up? Flip side maybe not… as I’d guess Amazon would want to own all their buildings, in which case where’s another building large enough with access to a lot of power?
June 3Jun 3 6 minutes ago, cle_guy90 said:The auto show was indeed going downtown when the IX center was going to be closed in 2020. Cleveland is a big enough market overall that these kind of shows will still go on. Many of these major shows occur in some variation in basically ever major city so it is not like things like the auto show will leave Cleveland for another city.https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/cleveland-auto-show-moves-downtown-plans-2021-event-decemberAlso to be clear auto shows have become less of a national/global thing aka manufacturers aren’t the ones putting on the show anymore it’s local dealers
June 3Jun 3 I assume the 225K of exhibition space at Huntington does not include the grand ballroom. If the grand ballroom could be converted to exhibition space, that might allow Huntington to handle bigger shows currently using the IX Center. There is another ballroom in the Global Center, albeit a smaller one.
June 3Jun 3 Author 3 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:I assume the 225K of exhibition space at Huntington does not include the grand ballroom. If the grand ballroom could be converted to exhibition space, that might allow Huntington to handle bigger shows currently using the IX Center. There is another ballroom in the Global Center, albeit a smaller one.Event hall - 225,000 SFGrand ballroom - 32,000 SFAtrium ballroom - 20,000 SF "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3Jun 3 Author 8 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:Thanks, Ken. So I guess my idea wouldn't add that much space.You could probably have some exhibits in the Grand Ballroom, food vendors, etc. The Atrium Ballroom could be where the luxury cars are put with a price to patch, since it would be visible from the street but set off from the rest of the facility to suggest exclusivity. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3Jun 3 I've always thought the classic cars section of the auto show was very nice but could warrant it's own, separate show - my family always ends up rushing through the classic cars section by the time we're spent from walking around the rest of the show. So potentially removing that from the equation, or at least maybe doing the classic cars on a separate weekend after the dealers clear out the new cars could free up some space in HCCC as wellI was amazed how much of the I-X Center was closed off and how far around we had to walk from the back entrance to the front this year through the warehouse space. Such a waste of space to have those shows only use half at most of only one floor of the entire center. Edited June 3Jun 3 by Geowizical
June 3Jun 3 @KJP do you know what Quinn is referring to here? How many people on council are opposed to this?https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/06/fortune-100-company-eyes-ix-center-but-cleveland-council-might-nix-deal-over-haslam-resentment.html"Today in Ohio podcasters can't believe Cleveland City Council might reject the deal, though, out of spite." Edited June 3Jun 3 by Geowizical
June 3Jun 3 Author 19 minutes ago, Geowizical said:@KJP do you know what Quinn is referring to here? How many people on council are opposed to this?https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/06/fortune-100-company-eyes-ix-center-but-cleveland-council-might-nix-deal-over-haslam-resentment.html"Today in Ohio podcasters can't believe Cleveland City Council might reject the deal, though, out of spite."From what I understand, folks like Polensek are concerned that this would drive I-X Center events to JimmyWorld in Brook Park. I don't agree. The stadium doesn't have the floor space and no event center as large or larger than the Huntington Convention Center downtown is planned there or anywhere else in Greater ClevelandHere's some additional background information.....Executive Summary:https://cityofcleveland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14254388&GUID=7517CD43-4622-440E-8E47-B561545F125D&G=2EB18EF1-2C21-4D1D-85C9-B38100AB8FFDPresentation:https://cityofcleveland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14255659&GUID=1DB61C2E-BD5A-4498-8E27-1056CDE92882&G=2EB18EF1-2C21-4D1D-85C9-B38100AB8FFDBTW, note that this wasn't suddenly thrust upon council. This file has been on City Council's Legistar website since November 2024 -- eight months. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 3Jun 3 Thanks for the clarification! My follow up question was, do we think there are the votes in council to actually reject this or is it an "empty" threat, like a minority of council said no to the shoreway removal last night but it ultimately passed? Edited June 3Jun 3 by Geowizical
June 3Jun 3 27 minutes ago, Geowizical said:@KJP do you know what Quinn is referring to here? How many people on council are opposed to this?https://www.cleveland.com/news/2025/06/fortune-100-company-eyes-ix-center-but-cleveland-council-might-nix-deal-over-haslam-resentment.html"Today in Ohio podcasters can't believe Cleveland City Council might reject the deal, though, out of spite."Cleveland voted 13-2 to approve the new lease with an EMERGENCY ORDINANCE and they will reject the deal? That doesn't make sense.
June 3Jun 3 9 minutes ago, MyPhoneDead said:Cleveland voted 13-2 to approve the new lease with an EMERGENCY ORDINANCE and they will reject the deal? That doesn't make sense.Right?! Makes me wonder if cleveland.com wrote the article before-hand and posted it too late? lmao
June 3Jun 3 I just listened to the podcast. I still don't know what the heck they are talking about. They just rant and complain without providing the audience any actual facts or context what they are talking about. They say council is against it but don't say where that comes from or even who specifically may be opposed! I have listened to a few of their podcasts and they are almost all negative and condescending. It's like they are trying to fill the void left by Trivisonno.
June 3Jun 3 Even if Jimmy World has the ability to steal events from the IX Center, it wouldn't be possible during the football season.
June 3Jun 3 ‘Grave concern’: Not everyone sold on I-X Center transformation plan“The income tax—we have to share with Brook Park, who are trying to take our Browns as we speak,” he added.https://fox8.com/news/grave-concern-not-everyone-sold-on-i-x-center-transformation-plan/
June 3Jun 3 I wonder what will happen with the huge parking lot surrounding the IX Center. They won't need all that space for 25 or so employees.
June 3Jun 3 The articles say 250, not 25We gotta level set the discourse here because I already see it getting out of hand on other forums: My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that a 100k sqft data center employs like 20 people. This is a 2.2 million sqft data center, how could it possibly only employ 25 people?I have no doubt Amazon would overwork the employees to cut costs but we're talking orders of magnitude larger of an operationI could be wrong but the 25 number is not adding up to me...
June 4Jun 4 Well, whether it's 25 or 250, they won't need all that space for parking. Maybe it could be used for airport operations or a hotel or something else.
June 4Jun 4 5 hours ago, marty15 said:Could money allotted for the current iteration of the land bridge be redirected to a CC expansion that doubles as a land bridge? If the CC is expanded north, would there be enough clearance for the rail traffic to pass underneath? I'm guessing the answer is no.
June 4Jun 4 Right, data centers employee far less than 200 people. My opinion, huge loss if this transitions to a data center.
June 4Jun 4 It's been on life support since Covid. Better the data center than another underwhelming trade or gardens show.
June 4Jun 4 36 minutes ago, Jenny said:Right, data centers employee far less than 200 people. My opinion, huge loss if this transitions to a data center.Data centers may not employ a lot of people, but they do generate a lot in taxes which is why many cities go after them.A win for downtown, for sure! The best of both worlds would be for the Browns to stay downtown as well, but I’m not going to get off topic. Edited June 4Jun 4 by Oldmanladyluck
June 4Jun 4 44 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:If the CC is expanded north, would there be enough clearance for the rail traffic to pass underneath? I'm guessing the answer is no.It’s a pretty significant drop from the top rail looking down. I’m certain it’s workable. The farm is well below the CC floor, at its at grade to the tracks.
June 4Jun 4 They didn't have to gobble up 100+ acres of farmland and it doesn't sound like they are getting some massive tax break, plus hopefully many of the events being displaced will go downtown and bolster that area. I'd rather have a Boeing airplane manufacturing plant there but this seems a net benefit to me. It's kind of surprising this was a possibility and no one was talking about it until this week, though.
June 4Jun 4 Author 2 hours ago, marty15 said:It’s a pretty significant drop from the top rail looking down. I’m certain it’s workable. The farm is well below the CC floor, at its at grade to the tracks.Past plans never indicated that this was an issue. I have plans of two proposals. Perhaps someone can remind me tomorrow to look for them, please?2 hours ago, coneflower said:It's kind of surprising this was a possibility and no one was talking about it until this week, though.I'm trying to figure out why. City Council created a digital folder for this matter online through Legistar back in November of last year. I don't know what if anything (proposed ordinances, summaries, presentations, etc) was put into this folder until early today. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 4Jun 4 I'm finding it hard to get excited for this plan. I guess some events will move downtown, which is good. I suppose some parking near the IX center goes away, but given it's proximity to the runways, while still being pretty far from the terminal, I'm not sure how many other users it realistically has. Even with that, a large convention center for a data center just doesn't seem like a good trade. Hopefully I'm wrong, since it looks like it will happen regardless. While not in the cards right now unfortunately, the best use of this land would be for a third runway. I worry that this might be harder to close if that day ever comes, but maybe not, idk. I don't think there's any substantive reason to think this will result in a downtown convention center expansion/land bridge combo, but if it somehow does happen that would be the best way to make lemonade out of this situation. While I hate indefinitely planning the same project, this in conjunction with the Browns likely departure means there is more than sufficient reason to update the North Coast Harbor lakefront master plan. A nice wide land bridge would be a fantastic end to these two sagas.
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