CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland intends to raze two lakeshore warehouses on docks north of FirstEnergy Stadium to help provide more space for the 2021 NFL draft and open the door for future uses.
Cleveland has partnered with the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission to demolish the warehouses. The sports commission is working with the NFL to plan the event, to be held April 29-May 1.
The additional space could be important, depending on the status of the coronavirus pandemic, said David Gilbert, the commission’s president and CEO.
“The draft is 100% on. It is deep, deep, deep into the planning,” Gilbert said in a recent interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. It will be a live, outdoor event in a gated area so that the number of people can be controlled.
“The whole area that’s being looked at is the stadium, north of the stadium and the whole North Coast Harbor area,” Gilbert said. Having that large area and having it outdoors will allow people to be safe and socially distanced.
The warehouses, at Dock 30 and Dock 32 north and west of the Great Lakes Science Center, are under the auspices of the city’s Division of Port Control. That office oversees Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Burke Lakefront Airport and the waterfront.
Robert Kennedy, the division’s director, said the warehouses are not in good shape. Their removal, and the remediation of some drainage and electrical issues at the site, will make the property more useful.
John Hoose, the city’s harbors manager, said a variety of odds and ends are stored in the warehouses – materials he described as “attic stock.”
But with the land cleared, the area could be used for parking or be developed into something else that produces revenue, Kennedy said.
“Those buildings have de minimis use as they are now. … All of these improvements have tremendous value to us as a city,” Kennedy said. “It could open up the possibility for additional or different development.”
Cleveland has long wanted to see development in the area around the stadium and North Coast Harbor.
For several years, the city partnered with Cleveland-based Cumberland Development and Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. to lease and build on the city-owned land next to the stadium and at North Coast Harbor.
The first project, Mexican restaurant Nuevo, opened next to Voinovich Park in 2016. The second project was a luxury apartment building north of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
About 18 acres are available north of the stadium along the waterfront. At one point, Cumberland planned to erect retail and housing in the area.
But Cumberland and the city ended their relationship earlier this year and no development plans are on the boards for the docks at this point.
Councilman Kerry McCormack, whose ward includes the area around the stadium, said he hopes the demolition gets the ball rolling.
“I’m encouraged,” he said. “Hopefully, this generates more interest in that location as we move forward for investment.”
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