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Greater Cleveland Partnership Site Selection CommitteeUrban Planning Analysis

URS has been retained to perform an analysis exploring urban planning issuesassociated with the proposed Convention Center and Medical Mart project at the MallSite and the Riverfront Site. Proximity to activity centers including hotel rooms,restaurants and entertainment, retail, transportation, North Coast Harbor attractionsand the lakefront, parking and truck access have been evaluated.

Introduction

The City of Cleveland currently owns and operates the Cleveland Convention Centerlocated in the Civic Center District adjacent to Cleveland City Hall and the CuyahogaCounty Courthouse. The meeting and exhibition areas are located beneath Malls Band C and Public Auditorium. Public Auditorium, Music Hall and Little Theater areabove ground venues. Discussions concerning the need for a new ConventionCenter for Cleveland to compete with similar cities like Kansas City, Indianapolis,Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee have taken place since the most recentConvention Center upgrade in 1987.The Cuyahoga County Commissioners, by a 2 – 1 vote, agreed to raise the county’sportion of the sales tax by one-quarter of one percent in July, 2007 to pay for a newConvention Center and bring a Medical Merchandise Mart to Cleveland. Theincrease was expected to raise $42 million annually to help finance the ConventionCenter and Medical Mart Project. The Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) formeda Site Selection Committee to study, review and make a site recommendation to theCuyahoga Board of Commissioners no later than July 31, 2008. A site selectiondecision is expected in August, 2008.A comparative analysis of the Mall Site and the Riverfront Site is based on thefollowing prioritized criteria from the perspective of the conventioneer:1. Proximity/ Access to Hotel Rooms2. Proximity/ Access to Restaurants & Entertainment3. Proximity to Retail4. Access to Rail, Bus Rapid Transit & Sponsored Transportation5. Proximity/ Access to North Coast Harbor Lakefront Attractions6. Proximity/ Access to Parking7. Access for TrucksThe analysis does not attempt to quantify economic impacts.Documents researched for this analysis are listed in the back of the study.

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Description of Sites

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Mall Site – Mall B (Hanna Plaza) and Mall C (Strawbridge Plaza) bounded byOntario Street, Lakeside Avenue, west side of Public Hall and St. ClairAvenue and Mall C north of Lakeside Avenue to the railroad tracks betweenthe access drive to the Huntington Park Garage and the Willard ParkGarage.

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Riverfront Site – 11+ acres of land and air rights bounded by SherwinWilliams, the Cuyahoga River, the Cleveland Thermal Steam Plant andHuron Road.

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Comparative AnalysisProximity/ Access to Hotel Rooms

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Mall Site – A total of 3,161 rooms currently exist in Downtown Clevelandwithin a 10 minute walk of the Mall Site. Two existing hotels with 872 roomsare within a five minute walk. Nine hotels with 2,289 rooms are within a fiveto ten minute walk. (See Exhibit 1.)

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Riverfront Site – A total of 2,281 rooms currently exist in DowntownCleveland within a 10 minute walk of the Riverfront Site. Six existing hotelswith 1,707 rooms are within a five minute walk. Four hotels are within a fiveto ten minute walk. (See Exhibit 1.)

Proximity/ Access to Restaurants & Entertainment

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Mall Site – The Historic Warehouse District, East Bank of the FlatsEntertainment District, Lower Euclid / East 4

Street Entertainment District,and Gateway Sports Complex are all within a ten minute walk of the MallSite. Eight restaurants are located within a five minute walk. (See Exhibit 2and Exhibit 3.)

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Riverfront Site – The Historic Warehouse District, East Bank of the FlatsEntertainment District, and the Lower Euclid / East 4

Street EntertainmentDistrict are all within a ten minute walk of the Riverfront Site. Fourteenrestaurants are located within a five minute walk. Quicken Loans Arena andProgressive Field are accessible directly through existing Tower City Centerinterior concourses. (See Exhibit 2 and Exhibit 3.)