Global Center for Health Innovation showing signs of life

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2018/01/global_center_for_health_innovation_is_showing_signs_of_life.html

Ohio State relocates regional recruitment office in downtown Cleveland

Space will foster engagement with prospective students, high-school counselors

https://news.osu.edu/ohio-state-relocates-regional-recruitment-office-in-downtown-cleveland/

Global Center for Recruiting Cleveland High Schoolers to Other Cities.

 

How about promoting the Red Line to/from the airport (a nearly invisible linkage that's not promoted at downtown hotels, Public Square signage, and convention center promo info) and expanding the convention center over the lakefront tracks?

 

Convention center aims to ease space squeeze

https://www.crainscleveland.com/government/convention-center-aims-ease-space-squeeze

5 hours ago, KJP said:

How about promoting the Red Line to/from the airport (a nearly invisible linkage that's not promoted at downtown hotels, Public Square signage, and convention center promo info) and expanding the convention center over the lakefront tracks?

 

Convention center aims to ease space squeeze

https://www.crainscleveland.com/government/convention-center-aims-ease-space-squeeze

 

Ken, is there enough clearance over the railroad tracks to expand the exhibit hall?  Or would the over track part be meeting rooms? Also, would expanding the convention center require diverting the rail freight track? (You had mentioned something about hazardous cargo not being allowed under buildings.)

I never been able to find any regulations about it, so I think it's more of a railroad industry preference not to have large/long structures built over tracks that regularly handle hazardous cargoes. But I can think of one notable exception -- the half-mile-long Mccormick Center in Chicago. In fact the current GoogleEarth image of it shows a long freight train with tank cars passing underneath it. It's possible those tankers are carrying corn syrup. They could also be carrying crude oil or ammonia or something else nasty.

 

And yes, there is enough clearance to expand the exhibit hall/ballrooms/meeting rooms over the tracks. The tracks closest to the "wall" are at elevation 588. The railroads want overhead clearances of 25 feet. Add a few feet of structural underfloor. Should be no problem. In fact, it was planned in 2000 (BTW, when I used Photoshop to add three retail spaces along the south side of the Intermodal station, I was admonished for putting too much roof over the Norfolk Southern mainline, which is where my realization that structural roofs over tracks were bad, so if you want to see what was intended, see the elevations 650 and 690)....

 

 

 

Then there was this 1999 plan which I loved. It would probably cost about $200 million today. The city has enough pedbridge money to conduct enviro/engineering planning to make it funding ready. Then get federal RRIF loans, TIFIA loans & FRA grants to pay for it - IF it has a transportation center....

 

Edited May 21, 20196 yr by KJP

12 hours ago, KJP said:

I never been able to find any regulations about it, so I think it's more of a railroad industry preference not to have large/long structures built over tracks that regularly handle hazardous cargoes. But I can think of one notable exception -- the half-mile-long Mccormick Center in Chicago. In fact the current GoogleEarth image of it shows a long freight train with tank cars passing underneath it. It's possible those tankers are carrying corn syrup. They could also be carrying crude oil or ammonia or something else nasty.

 

Just out of curiosity--do the railroads have any restrictions on carrying hazmat materials through populated areas like over the road trucking companies do?   For instance on the signs for I90 heading into Cleveland, it's marked no hazardous cargo.....

53 minutes ago, Cleburger said:

 

Just out of curiosity--do the railroads have any restrictions on carrying hazmat materials through populated areas like over the road trucking companies do?   For instance on the signs for I90 heading into Cleveland, it's marked no hazardous cargo.....

 

No. The reason is that there are very few rail lines that don't go through populated areas. Most American cities grew up along rail lines. Very few U.S. rail lines have been built since their 1916 peak.

I haven’t been in the convention center so I was curious what the current layout is. They have a nice interactive layout on the web page. 

 

https://map.concept3d.com/?id=1206#!sbc/?ct/32679,32514,30335,30321,0,31803,31802,31801,31799,32518,32515,32683,32682,32680,31800

 

Answering my previous question, there would be plenty of room to expand the exhibit hall under Mall C - no need to put that over the railroad tracks. But it appears that it would require tearing out the ballrooms and some meetings rooms. I suppose these could be rebuilt elsewhere, but I’m thinking this layout makes expanding the exhibit hall unlikely. All that said, there’s plenty of spots for additional meeting rooms, which seems to be the current concern. 

 

I’d still love to see exhibit hall expanded under Lakeside and Mall C, which would nearly double that space. (Obviously in combination with a land bridge and a transportation center. ?) Maybe a replacement ballroom and new meeting rooms can be built into the land bridge. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

23 hours ago, KJP said:

How about promoting the Red Line to/from the airport (a nearly invisible linkage that's not promoted at downtown hotels, Public Square signage, and convention center promo info) and expanding the convention center over the lakefront tracks?

 

Convention center aims to ease space squeeze

https://www.crainscleveland.com/government/convention-center-aims-ease-space-squeeze

Well, the somewhat good news is that CLE went from ''will we see dividends from the 2016 RNC'' to a space squeeze in 2019; now the solution, the quicker the better.

 

I would think going over the tracks is the only solution (I can't read the article) but I know there's a parking squeeze here as well.  I bet the parking issue relates to locals and regional folks driving into downtown for a meeting or convention etc.  

 

The out of towners using the airport and staying downtown most likely aren't driving.  I would think RTA needs to promote itself as an option for locals to use the rapid generally.

 

Of course promoting the airport red line generally is always a good thing.  A nice access portal from the newly designed Public Square would have been nice but the real problem with the Red Line is its one-stop, out of the way downtown station....and having unmarked access isn't helping even this limited service.  Connecting to the WFL for the convention center would be limited to a huge convention akin other big downtown events: browns game, air show, couple-to-few flats fests etc.

 

Then again, people just don't think of using transit as much as they used to, mostly because they don't need to.

 

Edited May 21, 20196 yr by Oxford19

Cue the doomsayers in 3-2-1....

 

 

Is this thing in it's current incarnation still considered an experiment, a failure, what? Can its empty space be absorbed into the convention space and used for exhibits? Can first floor space be converted to retail facing Ontario and the Mall? Just a few thoughts...

The backers stated it would start seeing profits after 5 years (hah!), though there has been some retroactive nonsense how it was never actually supposed to make money directly. 

 

At 50 percent empty (once HIMSS) leaves, a ridiculous lack of paying tenants, and no real concrete vision (Kennedy, Jones, etc, seem to have abandoned this albatross), I can't see how it's in any way a success. There are some silver linings here and there such as now we have an updated convention center and sexy hotel, but ultimately what a clusterf-uck. At least for the moment. 

Yes, we’re squarely in the making lemonade out of lemons phase. Having the county build spec office buildings in our market is dumb, but it is what it is and hope they make the best of it. Open question is whether they should try to maximize rental revenue or treat it as a loss leader to help encourage the biomed sector.

It was reported in May that the Convention Center needed more space for meeting rooms and was looking at converting space in Public Auditorium:

https://www.crainscleveland.com/government/convention-center-aims-ease-space-squeeze

Seems to me that converting some or all of the "Global Center" from leased space into meeting rooms would be win-win.  It could also be good to more closely integrate that building into the Convention Center as a prominent southern entrance to the Convention Center, closer to the heart of downtown than the north-facing entrance on Lakeside.

 

The Med Mart/Global Center idea was probably worth a shot, especially since its development included a new Convention Center which seems to be working well.  But it was an outside-the-box idea that doesn't seem to have taken off.  

Edited July 3, 20195 yr by ryanfrazier

Despite the occupancy, has the center helped attract medical conferences to Cleveland? That's an important measure of its success.

Hard not to think of this project while reading about the Blockland development...

9 minutes ago, edale said:

Hard not to think of this project while reading about the Blockland development...

 

I get it's easy to think like that, but these two projects aren't remotely close to being comparable

Edited July 3, 20195 yr by Clefan98

One big difference (I hope) is that Blockland will have private money behind it. 

7 hours ago, ryanfrazier said:

It was reported in May that the Convention Center needed more space for meeting rooms and was looking at converting space in Public Auditorium:

https://www.crainscleveland.com/government/convention-center-aims-ease-space-squeeze

Seems to me that converting some or all of the "Global Center" from leased space into meeting rooms would be win-win.  It could also be good to more closely integrate that building into the Convention Center as a prominent southern entrance to the Convention Center, closer to the heart of downtown than the north-facing entrance on Lakeside.

 

The Med Mart/Global Center idea was probably worth a shot, especially since its development included a new Convention Center which seems to be working well.  But it was an outside-the-box idea that doesn't seem to have taken off.  

 

I came here to post this same thought - you beat me to it.  I agree completely.  The Convention Center needs meeting space.  Use the Global Center for that meeting space.

The purpose of med mart is to lose its tenants, in the same way that a family home's purpose is to someday lose its children as occupants. The difference is that the med mart needs to keep attracting and raising new children ad infinitum.

11 hours ago, KJP said:

The purpose of med mart is to lose its tenants, in the same way that a family home's purpose is to someday lose its children as occupants. The difference is that the med mart needs to keep attracting and raising new children ad infinitum.

That was my thought also.....Isn't Plug and Play CLE part of the building now?  Aren't they suppose to constantly create new companies and opportunities?

Global Center for Health Innovation lands two startups as tenants

 

There are two new tenants at the Global Center for Health Innovation, both of which use technology developed at the Cleveland Clinic and both led by serial health care entrepreneur Vince Owens.

 

The Global Center announced in a news release on Wednesday, Aug. 7, that the tenants — digital health startup Qr8 Health and medical device company Enspire DBS Therapy — will share a suite and have an initial s  taff of eight. Qr8 Health is coming to the Global Center from Boston. Both companies are run by Owens, a 25-year veteran of the medical device industry.

 

https://www.crainscleveland.com/technology/global-center-health-innovation-lands-two-startups-tenants

New Plan Needed. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/cuyahoga-county-eyeing-new-plan-for-struggling-global-center-for-health-innovation/95-14695e5c-f67d-433a-bcfe-f0003b543326

And now BioEnterprise heading out of the Global Center of Empty Offices and back to University Circle.  Good news is that the empty space provides more room for meeting rooms, so hopefully there won't be any pressure to expand the Convention Center for the foreseeable future.

 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/11/global-center-for-health-innovation-could-pivot-away-from-healthcare-with-departure-of-another-major-tenant.html

Edited November 1, 20195 yr by StapHanger

14 minutes ago, simplythis said:

New Plan Needed. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/cuyahoga-county-eyeing-new-plan-for-struggling-global-center-for-health-innovation/95-14695e5c-f67d-433a-bcfe-f0003b543326

 

It's mildly funny that the company tasked with finding tenants comprised 25% of the buildings full time employees. 

Is the Global Center connected to the Hilton and/or convention center via an underground walkway?

I think the Global center is connected to the convention center and the convention center is connected to the Hilton. I don't think there is a direct connection between the Hilton and the Global Center. Also not sure how the passageway works--is it 24/7 access or is it only when there is an event at the Convention Center can one walk from the med mart to the hilton---that part I am not sure about. Not completely helpful, I know...

It is so easy to see that the building should be converted to meeting space as part of the convention center.  No need for a $150k study, that will take two years to implement.  

On 11/26/2019 at 10:50 AM, skiwest said:

Is the Global Center connected to the Hilton and/or convention center via an underground walkway?

 

Yes

 

https://theglobalcenter.com/faq/

Edited December 22, 20195 yr by KJP

Double Billed ? https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/investigations/bioenterprise-accused-of-double-billing-cuyahoga-county-while-managing-medical-mart/95-09b6fc9d-782a-458d-a4c7-3efe79870aed

Cuyahoga County expects to save $21.5 million by refinancing bonds for convention center, Global Center
 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/07/cuyahoga-county-expects-to-save-215-million-by-refinancing-bonds-for-convention-center-global-center.html

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cuyahoga County Council committee signed off Monday on refinancing a portion of the debt on the Global Center for Health Innovation and the Huntington Convention Center – a move expected to save taxpayers $21.5 million.

The full council is expected as early as next week to consider the plan, which was proposed by the administration of County Executive Armond Budish to take advantage of low interest rates and to offset lost revenues resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

If the deal is approved, the $21.5 million in anticipated savings would be realized between 2021 and 2027, the county’s financial adviser Bob Franz, told members of the Finance and Budgeting Committee.

 

Wow. Jury Duty.https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/how-constructing-the-medical-mart-played-a-role-in-revitalizing-downtown 

"highest and best use”... they forgot to write "any". At this point I just say rezone the bastard and turn it into a shelter. It's over.

okay naysayers....  it didn't work, take your victory lap....    time for plan B....

 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/10/global-center-for-health-innovation-leaders-want-30m-renovation-to-convert-facility-into-convention-center-extension.html

To me this was the obvious solution from the start. The Convention Center, as far as I know, has been successful and is a great facility. The Global Center was a failure but the building is already connected to the facility. Public Auditorium while connected is underutilized and not as well maintained. Just turn the whole thing Into the Convention Center and be done with it. It is amazing that this costs $30M to do though. 

58 minutes ago, lockdog said:

okay naysayers....  it didn't work, take your victory lap....    time for plan B....

 

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/10/global-center-for-health-innovation-leaders-want-30m-renovation-to-convert-facility-into-convention-center-extension.html

Technically plan C, but this looks like a good one and I hope they figure out the funding. 
 

I also really like @mrclifton88’s suggestion on including Public Auditorium in the Convention Center too. 

I would wait to see how the convention booking needs are following Covid-19 before investing any more money into this facility.

^If the travel and convention industries don't eventually recover, it means we've got a LOT more serious things to worry about than this $30M.

 

Interest rates are historically low.  Now is the time to make investments, when the costs to borrow are low.  This isn't just about trying to make the Health Center space work; this is about a cost effective way of filling a critical need at the convention center that had already been identified before this whole pandemic mess.  I am all for this investment.

Edited October 24, 20204 yr by Boomerang_Brian
Typo

17 hours ago, mrclifton88 said:

To me this was the obvious solution from the start. The Convention Center, as far as I know, has been successful and is a great facility. The Global Center was a failure but the building is already connected to the facility. Public Auditorium while connected is underutilized and not as well maintained. Just turn the whole thing Into the Convention Center and be done with it. It is amazing that this costs $30M to do though. 

 

I'm surprised it doesn't cost more. $30 million isn't a lot of money for a project like this. I would expect it to be the cheapest among other alternatives, especially when compared to expanding over the railroad tracks. 

 

BTW, @X  sounds like this thread could be moved back into the active projects section again?

 

EDIT2: Thanks!!

Edited October 24, 20204 yr by KJP

News...

Mr. Appelbaum explained that several months ago the Board came together to discuss the 
repurposing of the Global Center and engaged TVS Services as a design team to explore the most optimal 
reconfiguration. He stated that conceptual design has been completed and includes the following 
elements: The Infrastructure Work, which involves creation of a monumental stair and additional exiting, 
escalators, additional restrooms, and other changes to convert the Global Center from a showroom to a 
meeting center, adding approx. 86,000 square feet to be used as meeting space (exclusive of changes to 
the Junior Ballroom); the Junior Ballroom expansion from 10,000 to 20,000 square feet to create multiple 
divisible breakout spaces by expanding out toward Ontario and into the Atrium. This will also create a  rooftop venue space; Upper Floor Modifications to create new meeting spaces on floors two through four. 
Finally, the exterior of the Global Center will be updated and will create new front entryways on the east  and west side. Mr. Appelbaum stated that these modifications will help CCCFDC move forward with the  types of meetings it wants to host. The concept design has been completed and the Project is ready to  move forward to the schematic phase. Mayor Sellers suggested the Board authorize Mr. Appelbaum to 
develop a strategic implementation schedule including events and cash flow for the Board to review and 
to pursue additional dialogue with the County to explore how to implement the plan, aiming for 
completion of this phase within the next few weeks with the aim to present to the county within three to  five weeks. Mr. Appelbaum presented to the Board the invoice from TVS Services Inc. in the amount of $166,228.84, which covers the conceptual design and all work done to date, and which invoice has been vetted by PMC and ASM Global. Mr. Hillow stated that his recommendation is to approve. 
 

^I know its physically connected to the convention center, but the extra meeting rooms makes a lot of sense i think for conferences as well as smaller events. Does this mean the showroom concept---for which the Medical Mart was built--is dead?

2 hours ago, freethink said:

. . . Mr. Appelbaum presented to the Board the invoice from TVS Services Inc. in the amount of $166,228.84, which covers the conceptual design and all work done to date. . .

 

 

This seems problematic.  How did management proceed with obtaining $166k in services without any authority?  Does TVS just eat that invoice if the board declines approval or does Appelbaum have to pay it?  This seems ripe for abuse, and I hope this isn't a routine practice of the CCCFDC. 

Global Center renovations on tight timeline, experts say Cuyahoga County needs to act fast

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/04/global-center-renovations-on-tight-timeline-experts-say-cuyahoga-county-needs-to-act-fast.html

 

To me this is an easy decision. I think the Global Ctr.  will make a great addition to the convention facilities.  This is a chance to add 50k sq ft of space at a much lower cost than building from ground up. I believe the city and the county need to invest in current venues to stay competitive. I would go even further and propose another convention hotel to bring in the larger events that we lose out on.  You either compete or you don't.

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 20223 yr by freethink

After all these years and all the lies, it's just so hard not to be cynical and see this project as anything but an albatross. 

43 minutes ago, TBideon said:

After all these years and all the lies, it's just so hard not to be cynical and see this project as anything but an albatross. 

TBH, when the Merchandise Mart people were driving it, it did seem like a legit good idea with World renowned Cleveland Clinic nearby. The healthcare stuff was booming and MM did not have good showrooms for it. But MM has seen a lot of big name departures with Knoll, Herman Miller and soon Steelcase leaving for Fulton Market. That is like the anchors leaving a mall. Merch Marts future is also looking not too bright. I think it was timing and an outdated changing business model ....and lots of high hopes.

Edited May 1, 20223 yr by metrocity

I have stated this opinion a number of times over the years.  I could care less if the MM could have been (and clearly was not) a success.  It was cover for the county commissions to finally implement a tax to finally renovate the convention center after years of talk talk talk (hey...just like the lakefront).  I am sure the parties planning it hoped it would be a smash hit, but even if they were over selling I could care less.  The convention center was rebuilt and it just was not going to happen without the Med Mart selling point.  Now incorporating it into the actual Center is a great idea.  Just as good of an idea, make better use of Public Hall for conventions.