BROOKLYN, OHIO — American Greetings has sold its world headquarters, a 1.6 million-square-foot facility in Brooklyn, a suburb of Cleveland, for $15.5 million. Industrial Realty Group, an Ohio-based commercial and industrial property owner, purchased the property, which is situated on more than 150 acres north of Tiedeman Road. Allegro Realty Advisors, a commercial real estate brokerage and consulting firm, facilitated the transaction. The sale involved a complex set of lease agreements, a diverse set of land uses, including office, industrial and vacant land, as well as third-party tenants. American Greetings initially retained Allegro in the fall of 2011 to provide strategic corporate real estate advisory services to determine the most appropriate reuse of the property and the best approach to its disposition strategy, according to Michael Cantor, a managing director and principal at Allegro. Industrial Realty Group will reposition and re-tenant the property. American Greetings will remain as a tenant at the property until it is ready to relocate to its new world headquarters. According to Crain’s Cleveland Business, American Greetings will begin construction on a new $350 million headquarters at Crocker Park in Westlake in September.
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