CLEVELAND, Ohio – One developer envisions a mixed-use entertainment center on the downtown waterfront. Another is including the idea of a soccer field to anchor a housing and hospitality complex. The thought of a music venue is also being floated.
Those are among the ideas the not-for-profit set up by the city of Cleveland for lakefront development is sorting through before picking a developer or team of developers to help lead the transformation of 50 lakefront acres in and around the current football stadium.
One idea already eliminated, however, is a proposal submitted to provide consulting work on renovating the existing stadium. The stadium is to be demolished soon after the Browns’ vacate it to move to a new stadium in Brook Park in four to six years.
Limited details surfaced Thursday when the Planning Commission released the overview of a presentation North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. Executive Director Scott Skinner plans to present Friday to the commission.
More should be known in several weeks, when the organization announces a deal, or deals, with the applicants. That will then lead to an expected months-long process to further flesh out the plans and invite public feedback on the ultimate vision.
The Waterfront Development Corp., created by city council in 2023, received 18 responses in the request for qualifications it issued in July in search of both ideas and a qualified partner or partners.
The goal at the time was to make a choice by mid-October, but Scott Skinner, executive director of the waterfront organization, said during an interview with cleveland.com that the number of solid proposals pushed back the process.
“We were really happy with the number and quality of responses we got,” Skinner said.
“It validated the market to me. It validated that there is a market for the site, and folks are interested in investing in it.”
The names of the potential developers were not released, only broad descriptions of each proposal in a matter of a few words. Some sought to become a master developer of the entire site; others proposed handling individual segments.
Common themes were housing, including mixed-income housing, hospitality uses, and entertainment.
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Large public spaces are to be included in whatever is chosen. The RFQ said it anticipated “approximately 15 acres of public park and/or privately operated publicly accessible space.”
A team consisting of Skinner and four board members – Mayor Justin Bibb, Council President Blaine Griffin, Destination Cleveland CEO David Gilbert and First Interstate Properties CEO Mitchell Schneider – have narrowed the list of applicants from 18 to 11, according to the presentation.
Skinner said that although the stadium won’t be demolished until 2029 at the earliest, work on the surrounding property could begin sooner – making use of a $25 million upfront payment that is part of the deal between the Browns and the city to vacate the stadium.
He said this work starting as early as 2027 could include some permanent park space or construction involving utilities, roads and sidewalks that would be used for whatever the bigger plan becomes.