Issuu

CRAIN’S LIST See which manufacturing company cemented its position as the largest local employer. PAGE 26

EXCELLENCE IN HR: These professionals keep company culture alive, thriving. PAGE 10

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I SEPTEMBER 12, 2022

Real estate brokers and property owners are bracing for more pain in the downtown Cleveland office market, as leases come up for renewal and tenants migrate to smaller footprints in higher-end buildings. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Takes on the lake

What should the Browns do with FirstEnergy Stadium? BY JOE SCALZO

Bob Feller played there. Jim Brown did, too. The Cleveland Browns won a championship there. The Cleveland Rams did, too. It’s where John Elway ripped out hearts in 1987 and Browns fans ripped out seats in 1995. It’s where, for one night, everything went right for Len Barker. It’s where, for one night, everything went wrong for the guy who decided to charge 10 cents for beer. 100 Alfred Lerner Way is hallowed ground in Cleveland. Or, at least, it was. “We’re chasing ghosts,” said Andre Knott, who has worked as the sideline reporter for Cleveland’s three professional sports teams. “We’re still chasing this franchise that our grandfather went to see. It’s no longer there. It’s a completely different world.”

INCENTIVES FOR INVESTMENT?

As downtown office buildings struggle, some push for policy interventions BY MICHELLE JARBOE

As pandemic-battered cities across the country look to residential conversions to fill empty downtown office space, Cleveland is ahead of the pack — but still treading water. Developers in the city have a long track record of remaking obsolete office buildings as housing, hotels and mixed-use projects. But even after sharp winnowing, the downtown office market is ailing. Rents are soft. And vacancies are likely to climb as employers trim

their footprints to account for remote and hybrid work. Real estate brokers and property owners say apartment makeovers won’t be enough to blunt the pain. They’re pushing for public policy interventions, including tax breaks for landlords who reinvest in properties and more aggressive business-attraction efforts. “We spend so much time and energy on residential that maybe we should take a step back and triage office,” said Terry Coyne, a vice chairman in the Newmark brokerage’s Cleveland of-

NEWSPAPER

P001_CL_20220912.indd 1

See STADIUM on Page 28

Mapping city’s development GCP launches interactive map of downtown, aimed at investors BY MICHELLE JARBOE

fice, during a recent panel discussion hosted by NAIOP Northern Ohio, an industry group. Since 2013, developers have remade or earmarked more than 7 million square feet of downtown office space for conversions, according to Newmark’s local research. Cleveland outpaces other sizable cities that experienced a net reduction in downtown office inventory during that period, based on numbers from CoStar Group, a national real estate data provider.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership hopes to make it easier for investors and developers to grasp downtown Cleveland, through a new online tool that highlights recently finished projects, ongoing construction and big plans. The chamber of commerce published the first version of that tool, an interactive map of downtown and close-lying neighborhoods, on its website early Sunday, Sept. 11. But the three-dimensional model is far from finished. The team behind the project expects to keep adding to it, to both track progress and highlight potential opportunities.

See INCENTIVES on Page 30

See MAP on Page 29

THE

LAND SCAPE

A CRAIN’S CLEVELAND PODCAST

9/9/2022 1:31:07 PM