CLEVELAND, OHIO — The private company that will build and run Cleveland’s upcoming medical mart and convention center will consider creative construction to hold its first medical conference a year from now, a Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. executive said.
MMPI officials have long said they could quickly use the public auditorium of the city’s old convention center if that was the site selected to build the new facility. The City of Cleveland on Monday agreed to sell the old convention center Cuyahoga County, which will give the property to MMPI to build and operate the new convention center.
Senior Vice President Mark Falanga said the company is analyzing whether it could complete relatively simple renovations on the main floor of the public auditorium and open it while doing more extensive renovations on the upper floors to create meeting rooms and ballroom spaces.
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“The building could be up and running while doing construction on it,” he said.
Even if that’s not possible, Falanga said the goal is to hold the first conference in the old convention center’s public hall within 18 months. “It allows us to get into the market much sooner than anywhere else,” he said.
The company does not yet have commitments from anyone to use the facility, Falanga said.
“When we get the remainder of the [land purchased] we can begin marketing efforts in earnest and collect letters of intent,” he said.
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County officials on Monday essentially purchased the convention center land for $20 million, a price Falanga called “more than we hoped it would be but an acceptable number.” The county needs to either negotiate a price for three pieces of private property or provide the county headquarters to get enough land to complete the project.
Innovative architecture is what made the city’s convention center the pick for the site of the medical mart, which Northeast Ohio hopes will blossom into a medical showcase and draw health-care conventions from across the country. Engineers said the current convention center foundation can handle a new building.
That revelation allowed more than $100 million in unexpected savings and made the old convention center cost effective that alternate locations.
