CLEVELAND — ErieView Development, an Ohio-based real estate development firm headed by the Kassouf family, has closed on $218 million in financing for the new W Cleveland mixed-use tower in downtown Cleveland. The adaptive reuse project will convert the 40-story Erieview Tower at 1301 E. 9th St. into a 210-room W Cleveland hotel, 215 rental residences and Class A office space.
The W Cleveland’s residential units will mark the first apartments under the W brand that are exclusively for-rent, rather than for-sale, residences. The project also represents the first W hotel in Ohio and Marriott International’s first luxury hotel brand to open in Cleveland since the opening of The Ritz-Carlton Cleveland in 1990. Both renters and hotel guests will have access to 24-hour concierge services and other amenities, including a fitness center and spa.
Both the hotel and apartments are slated to open in late 2027. The offices at W Cleveland, which will be on floors 29 through 38, will be delivered on a turnkey basis on tenant schedules through 2028. ErieView Development plans to appoint a leasing agency for the offices in the fourth quarter of this year.
Other components of the W Cleveland will include a signature restaurant and bar on the 38th floor; a 15,000-square-foot ballroom; lobby lounge; and a subterranean parking garage with more than 450 spaces. The Galleria at Erieview, a glass-enclosed food court and dining installation on the ground level, will continue to operate at the tower.
The conversion project is expected to generate more than 600 jobs and more than $125 million in projected revenue for the City of Cleveland.
Erieview Tower was built in 1964 and spans more than 700,000 square feet. The tower is the fifth-tallest building in Cleveland and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nuveen Green Capital provided $93.4 million in C-PACE financing for the redevelopment, in the largest C-PACE transaction closed to date in Ohio. ERIEBANK, a division of CNB Bank, is providing senior financing totaling $20 million.
Foss & Co., Consortium Structured Investments, Midland States Bank and Cuyahoga County also provided financing for the adaptive reuse project. Other capital sources included funds from the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program, City of Cleveland tax abatements and tax increment financing and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority incentives.
The design-build team includes TurnDev, Rockwell Group, Beyer Blinder Belle, Berardi + Partners, Turner & Townsend and Novogradac & Co.
Kohrman Jackson & Krantz is serving as lead counsel to the development team. Brown Gibbons Lang & Co. (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, was ErieView Development’s financial advisor.
— John Nelson