jeremy borger [blog]

New Convention Center: Current site vs. Tower City

I went to Thursday’s public forum discussing possible locations for the new convention center/medical mart complex. I even tried the best I could to text message updates from my Twitter account since I couldn’t get WiFi access there.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership will make a recommendation about the location to the Cuyahoga County Commissioners who will ultimately decide where it will be built. Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones said he hopes the commissioners will make a decision in July.

The only two sites they covered are the Tower City site and the current location at the mall site. (and in this case kids, “mall” means that grassy area north of the War Memorial Fountain by Key Tower and stretching all the way towards the lake, not an indoor collection of chain stores with a food court) They’re supposedly also looking at sites in the Warehouse District (too small — not gonna happen), to the west of Cleveland Browns stadium (current port property — not gonna happen. And don’t we already have enough large structures on our lakefront?) and East 55th and Chester (convention center in the hood — not gonna happen). It looks like it’s a race between Tower City and the Mall site.

I went to this meeting supporting the Tower City site. I like the rail access and indoor connections to hotels, shops and restaurants. I think Tower City is a beautiful looking space and the med mart would be near the Euclid Corridor HealthLine with easy access to the hospitals towards the east.

However, I’ve always been worried how exactly the convention center would fit in that space between Huron Road and the Cuyahoga River. You have to be concerned about truck access first of all. And then to have the convention center go all the way to the river (and even slightly OVER the river at some points), is that really the best use for our river front?

The vast majority of the people in attendance on Thursday seemed to be for the Mall site and against the Tower City site. Some people were just rude, saying that Sam Miller (who owns Forest City, which owns Tower City) hates black people. It seemed like that was coming from a group of black contractors who were pissed that Forest City didn’t hire them for a job. But there were more legitimate concerns, like a big wall of cement and metal butting right up against the river. Tower City would still own the land — they’d just be leasing the “air rights” (area above the land) to the city, whereas the city would completely own the mall site. They wouldn’t be leasing from anyone. The representative from Tower City said they’d be leasing 200,000 square feet to the Medical Mart for just $1 a year. But it’s still a lease — a lease that would probably expire sometime in the future.

With the mall site, the new Medical Mart would be built on St. Clair at Ontario and then going east towards the mall. The convention center itself would be where it is right now — underground. They’d basically dig up the old convention center, put in the new one and then top it off with grass and dirt. It would supposedly be a stronger top than what’s there now so more public activities and events could take place on that grassy space — greenspace that downtown needs.

The north end of the convention center would be windows that look towards Lake Erie, Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock Hall. Nice view! The drawings they presented don’t make it feel like it’s underground, even though it would be.

Many people were concerned that people visiting the convention center from out of town would never leave Tower City if it were there. I’m sure Forest City is counting on that. But the two sites really aren’t that far away. I went running near the mall site today and it’s probably a five minute walk to Tower City. I think the mall site brings more opportunities for development around it. It wouldn’t feel as smushed as the Tower City site. It’s a bit more centrally located in downtown — the Tower City site would be pushed near the western border at the river.

And Tower City could work with conventions coming to town to let them know what Tower City has to offer. The important thing is that the Medical Mart and the new convention center will give Cleveland and the region a great shot in the arm and will strengthen Cleveland’s position as a world leader in the medical arena. That’s something everyone should be proud of.