The Bell to ring people home in 2024

The former Ohio Bell headquarters on East 9th Street in downtown Cleveland
was custom-designed for a specific office user. When Ohio Bell successor AT&T
left in 2019, it was a difficult office space to fill, especially in a weak office market.
It was also a difficult residential conversion due to the building’s large floor plates
and blank walls on the east and west sides. But The Bell’s development team is
pulling it off, with an April 2024 target for opening (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

At first, construction work at The Bell has a familiar ring to it. But this isn’t the usual conversion of a zombie office building in downtown Cleveland into residential or hotel uses. Instead, conversion of the former Ohio Bell Company headquarters, ongoing since July 2022, has been a different calling. What were once large, wide-open floors at the 16-story, 40-year-old office building have since been divided up into an average of 31 apartments per floor in the residential portions of the building at the southeast corner of Lakeside Avenue and East 9th Street.

READ MORE