SHW's new HQ may not feature an iconic skyscraper

Sherwin-Williams covers the Earth, but will it scrape the sky
above downtown Cleveland or develop more of those lifeless
parking craters west of Public Square? There are now rumors
for each course of action, with legs beneath each (SHW).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

 
UPDATED JAN. 5, 2021

Throughout the last two-plus years at the Sherwin-Williams (SHW) rumor mill, one of the favorite items of scuttlebutt has been the potential height of the new headquarters (HQ) building -- or buildings.

Rumors have pegged the height of SHW's tallest HQ structure ranging anywhere from 40 to as much as 55 stories. Depending on floorplates and floor heights, the base tower (having a Public Square address) was rumored to approach if not overtake the height of one or more of its Public Square neighbors. They are the 658-foot 200 Public Square, the 708-foot Terminal Tower and the 948-foot Key Tower.

One source, a specialty contractor, was instructed by SHW's development team lead by a joint venture of Welty-Gilbane to prepare a bid for work on the HQ building. Their scope of work, the contractor was told, was to prepare for a building that rivaled the height of Key Tower.

And then there's the latest rumor which goes in the opposite direction, height-wise. Three sources informed NEOtrans this week that SHW has considered two initial office buildings on its 6.8-acre HQ site. And neither one might top 30 stories, they said.

Specifically, the rumor has the base HQ building on the former Jacobs Lot on Public Square topping out at up to 27 stories. Averaging about 16 feet per floor, that could result in a building height of roughly 430 feet -- barring any rooftop decorative elements. That would be equal in height to the Stokes Federal Courthouse at the corner of West Superior and Huron Road.

According to new rumors, SHW's new head-
quarters will feature a 27-story building on
the block, formerly called the Jacobs Lot
next to Public Square Square. A 20-story
building will reportedly be built across
West 3rd Street from it with structured
parking and future buildings on the rest
of the SHW properties -- formerly the
Weston lots (SHW).

The second office building would be on the west side of West 3rd Street, between Superior and Frankfort avenues. It would top out at 20 stories, the two sources said. At an average floor height of about 16 feet, that might be approximately 320 feet tall.

It's not the first time we've reported that SHW wasn't interested in an HQ with a commanding presence downtown. After all, a visitor to downtown might have difficultly finding their existing HQ without directions. More than a year ago, NEOtrans reported that the conservative, if not stodgy SHW wasn't interested in an "iconic" tower exceeding 40 stories on its proposed urban campus.

But there's some substance behind this latest rumor.

A well-placed source in the SHW HQ team confirmed that when SHW was searching for a downtown HQ site, it asked respondents for proposals that included two 20-something-story buildings with a pedestrian connection between the the two.

How does that square with the latest information that geotechnical firm Ohio TestBor of Hinckley was drilling to bedrock at the SHW HQ site? City officials and drilling workers confirmed the drilling crews were boring multiple holes to identify the depth to bedrock at two potential building sites. One was at the former Jacobs Lot on Public Square and the other on part of the former Weston lots, a site just west of West 3rd.

In 2008, before the Great Recession killed it,
the Jacobs Group and Hines Inc. proposed a
21-story, multi-tenant office building on the
site where SHW may now be considering a
27-story HQ building (Jacobs Group).

Drilling to bedrock at two distinct locations suggests two skyscrapers of 30 stories or more.

Why would SHW's HQ development team request drilling to measure the depth to bedrock if they weren't planning on building structures taller than 30 stories?

After all, the rule of thumb is that a building shorter than 30 stories would be light enough so its foundation could be constructed of a less-expensive "floating mat" concrete pad. Otherwise, a taller and heavier building would require reinforced concrete caissons extending 200 feet or more to bedrock.

But that depends on the type of soil conditions below SHW's proposed HQ site, a construction-engineering source said.

"Drilling to bedrock should indicate something larger, but even a 25-story building might require caissons," the source said. "It all depends on the structural load paths and bearing capacity of the soils."

In its permit applications to the Cleveland's Division of Water Pollution Control and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Ohio TestBor said it would be drilling through sand and clay to bedrock.

The SHW HQ site includes all of the parking lots
visible in this eastward view from the Rockefeller
Building. The parking lot in the background of
this photo is the former Jacobs Lot on Public
Square on which SHW's base HQ office building
will rise. The block in the foreground is part of
the former Weston lots. West 3rd Street separates
the lots and what may be the two tallest buildings
in SHW's HQ campus, based on recent drilling.
For reference, 55 Public Square at left is 22
stories and 300 feet tall (Garfield-12323).

Contractors working for SHW's development team had been gathering core samples to learn about subsurface conditions below the Weston and Jacobs lots since November and December of 2019. More subsurface investigatory work was done in July 2020.

So if buildings with desired heights of about 300 to 400 feet tall couldn't be supported by the soil conditions, SHW would have discovered it from that core sampling in late 2019 and mid-2020.

It also squares with what the Ohio TestBor drilling crews said in December. They said they weren't taking core samples; they were measuring the depths to bedrock. SHW knew what they were getting into, soil-wise. Although the EnviroProbe workers drilling last month just east of West 6th and north of Superior were taking core samples -- likely for a shorter structure.

And if the rumor is correct, that 27- and 20-story buildings are planned, what does that include?

Drilling crews bored their way to bedrock on both sides of West
3rd Street, north of Superior Avenue, indicating two tall struc-
tures are planned. But it may also indicate that the soils below
these parking lots could not support medium-sized buildings
without caissons beneath them dug to bedrock (Ian Meadows).

It isn't known if parking would be contained within the towers on both sides of West 3rd, or if levels of parking counted toward their rumored heights. If the rumored building heights were just for the offices and not the parking on the lower levels, it would make them taller than a building having just 27 and 20 stories of office uses.

SHW has said publicly several times that its HQ will measure about 1 million square feet -- a figure that has never included parking. Every real estate insider NEOtrans has spoken with expects the SHW HQ to include a significant amount of structured parking -- not just for many of the 3,000 HQ employees, but also to make up for the 1,000 surface parking spaces in the former Jacobs and Weston lots that will be developed.

So there could be one or more parking garages totaling thousands of parking spaces either within the frames of the new HQ office structures or in separate parking garages or both. Two thousand parking spaces could involve 700,000 square feet of structured parking, for example. Three thousand spaces could bring more than 1 million square feet of structured parking.

This rumor is the latest among several about the potential size of this Cleveland real estate whale. But, like the others, there are some legs to this rumor -- and they're not just caissons. Fortunately, each day brings us closer to seeing the actual plans for the HQ project.

END

Counting Cranes -- predicting TMUD's impact on Cleveland

The view from Lake Erie of downtown Cleveland's skyline is
going to look quite different in the next few years. Potentially
nine buildings at least 15 stories tall could be underway or fi-
nished by 2025 with a half-dozen resulting from a new mega-
projects tax credit program created by the state (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

One of the most impactful actions to boost downtown Cleveland in the New Year and beyond was made in recent weeks and months 125 miles to the south in our state capital. It culminated with Gov. Mike DeWine signing a piece of legislation last week. In a state legislature that has gained a reputation for harming Ohio's largest urban centers, it actually helped them this time.

How do we know for sure? We don't. We're talking about the future. The great unknown. As many of you know, I hate making predictions. I possess no great insights on the future. If you saw my stock market picks, you'd agreed with me.

But some predictions aren't hard to make. If you're driving toward a cliff with no sign of slowing down, it's easy to predict the outcome barring any changes. Conversely, with Ohio soon offering up to $320 million in tax credits available for megaproject developments in Ohio's largest cities in the next three years, the odds are pretty good that quite a few big projects are going to move forward.

How many and where? Now we're getting in tougher prediction territory.

On Dec. 29, NEOtrans broke the story that DeWine had signed into law the Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credit program. Property owners and insurance company investors supporting projects certified by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority (OTCA) as TMUDs are eligible to receive up to $40 million in tax credits as part of their project's equity contributions.

Stark Enterprises' desire to fill a gap in its capital stack for
the nuCLEus development became the motivation for
Stark to seek the TMUD tax credit (Stark).

In or within 10 miles of an Ohio city having a population of 100,000 or more, a TMUD is a $50+ million project that is either:

• At least 15 stories tall;
• At least 350,000 square feet of new building or a renovated previously vacant building on a single parcel;
• At least 350,000 square feet total of development among two or more buildings that are connected to each other, are located on the same parcel or are on contiguous parcels;
• Will be the site of employment accounting for at least $4 million in annual payroll;
• And must include any combination of retail, office, residential, recreation and structured parking.

Smaller developments that are more than 10 miles away from a city of 100,000 people may be considered TMUDs and eligible for up to $80 million in tax credits. The TMUD program is due to sunset June 30, 2023. Any tax credits not used may be carried forward for up to five years.

For details, see the legislation as an enrolled law here or read the Legislative Services Commission's analysis of the final version of TMUD tax credit program.

Although The Centennial project may get underway this year,
additional subsidies will be needed to finish it (Millennia).

But the program is likely to be highly competitive. That's especially true for the urban portion that applies to Ohio's six metro areas that have a 100,000+ population city at their core -- Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo.

There are at least a half-dozen pending/emerging projects in each of Ohio's 3-C cities that may be seeking TMUD credits. In the second tier of Ohio's largest cities -- Akron, Dayton and Toledo -- each appears to have only 1-3 pending/emerging projects that might quality.

That's 25-30 projects statewide right there. I think Greater Cleveland could account for 10 of them.

Consider that tax credit awards will be capped at 10 percent of a project's cost and that the minimum project cost to qualify for the tax credit is $50 million. A price tag of $50 million is barely enough to afford a 15-story residential or office building with a reduced amount of structured parking.

But the TMUD tax credit program with $80 million per year could afford supporting 16 of those 15-story buildings annually -- or eight 30-story buildings per year. And while Cincinnati and Columbus developers are planning buildings mostly in the 15- to 25-story range, Cleveland developers are considering TMUD-eligible projects even larger -- and more numerous.

Another project due to get underway this year but needing
help to get finished is the Circle Square project. An office
building and tall apartment tower on the right side of
this view may need a TMUD tax credit (MDP).

With the TMUD program, a lot of those projects that win credits are going to attract other funding and are going to get built.

Before I get into prognosticating and my methodology for doing so, it's important to understand how the program will work.

The tax credit award process is two-tiered. A property owner/insurance company investor gets preliminary approval of a tax credit award by the OTCA. Awarding of the tax credit remains contingent upon completion of the TMUD as described in the development plan. The credit amount is subject to change based on actual development costs and on the increase in tax collections at the project site and in the surrounding area calculated upon completion of the project and in the years that follow.

Thus, applicants will likely seek the maximum tax credit allowed and force the OCTA to divvy up the annual $100 million TMUD tax credit pie based on the aggregate dollar amount among all applications and the available tax credits. And, as noted, $80 million of the total tax credits per year will go to Ohio's six largest metro areas.

Under construction in 2019, The Lumen apartment
tower may not be the last mostly residential build-
ing of 30 stories or more constructed in down-
town Cleveland (APPhotoshopman).

Of course, not every project is going to win tax credits. And some projects are going to win most if not all of the credits they requested. Those projects with a larger projected economic impact are likely to fare better. And, as noted above, just because a project promises big impacts doesn't mean it's going to get what it asked for or what it was preliminarily awarded.

If a project wins $20 million in tax credits based on promised economic impacts (as measured by local tax revenues generated) but its projected economic impact is actually less, the final tax credit award will be smaller than $20 million. The excess can be awarded to other projects.

So, for simplicity's sake, let's consider this example to imagine the potential scale of how many TMUD  projects could benefit. And remember, a TMUD is by its very definition is a big project. It's going to be hard to miss in our city's skylines.

If 25 applicants from among the six metros win tax credits in the first year, that's an average of $3.2 million in tax credits per project. That probably won't be enough to move some projects forward. But since not every project is going to win funding in the first year, that average dollar amount will probably be higher -- perhaps double or triple or quadruple.

Looking west on Front Street at the East Bank of the Flats,
new towers adding 1,500+ residential units, co-working
spaces and restaurants/retail qualifies as a TMUD (HSB).

Thus, let's consider things over the life of the TMUD program. If 25 applicants win tax credits over three years of the program, that's $9.6 million per project. If OCTA determines that the fiscal year 2020 (ended June 30, 2020) should be part of the program, 25 winners could average $12.8 million per award.

Given those assumptions, I think the average amount awarded per project over the next three years could be in the neighborhood of $10 million.

It should be noted that $12 million was the amount of a forgivable loan that Stark Enterprises sought from the city of Cleveland to fill the gap in its capital stack for the $350 million nuCLEus project. That fell through, as did a previous idea for a tax increment financing arrangement with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. After that, Stark officials in 2018 came up with the TMUD tax credit.

It isn't known if Stark is still looking for $12 million to complete its capital stack. Perhaps it's more since $12 million is just 3.4 percent of the overall project's cost and the TMUD program allows the state to award up to 10 percent of a project's cost. Stark's project has changed since it sought the city loan.

Outlined in red, the Lutheran Hospital parking lot in Ohio City 
is proposed for development, if someone can come up with the
money to put the 530 parking spaces into a deck (Google).

As noted above, let's assume the average award will be about $10 million. With that assumption, and based on my prediction that 10 Cleveland-area projects could win TMUD tax credits by the time the program is wrapped up in 2023 (assuming no unused tax credits are left over or the program isn't extended), I present the following stabs in the dark, or at least in the pre-dawn light.

They are (in alphabetical order):

THE CENTENNIAL -- The Millennia Companies anticipate starting the renovation of the 1.36-million-square foot former Huntington Bank at 925 Euclid Ave. this year with the incentives it has in hand. But later phases of the project might need a small- to medium-sized TMUD tax credit of about $10 million.

CIRCLE SQUARE -- Midwest Development Partners' creation of a second downtown between Euclid and Chester avenues at Stokes Boulevard is due to start this spring without the TMUD program. A building in the later phase -- namely a proposed office tower -- could benefit from a small TMUD credit of about $5 million.

EAST 9TH-BOLIVAR -- A residential or mixed-use tower is under consideration for the former New York Spaghetti House property. This 0.314-acre property, which also has a neighboring parking deck that needs to be replaced, is owned by an affiliate of the Geis Companies. It is possible that a small tax credit of about $5 million might be enough to move the needle on whatever Geis has in mind here.

FLATS EAST BANK -- The Wolstein Group and Akara Partners have big plans for the Flats, requiring more structured parking and complicated site preparation to accommodate the addition of 1,500 to 2,000 units. In the absence of significantly more daytime workers to keep the parking decks full around the clock, the project might need a small- to medium-sized tax credit of about $10 million.

LUTHERAN HOSPITAL PARKING LOT -- The Weston Group and the Kertesz family want to develop the hospital's 5-acre parking lot on West 25th Street. But building a parking deck to densify its 530 spaces won't financially benefit the developers or Cleveland Clinic. The answer might be a medium-sized tax credit of about $15 million.

While Stark Enterprises and Magellan/Weston propose similarly
scaled projects, Magellan/Weston would add a residential/hotel
tower now and an office building later, Stark proposes the office
building now and a residential building later (Ian McDaniel).

MAGELLAN-WESTON PROJECT -- Another partnership involving the Weston Group, this time with the Chicago-based Magellan Development Group, could feature two buildings over a pedestal of parking in the Warehouse District. One would be a skyscraper with apartments and a five-star hotel. The other would be an office building of unknown height. If the Marion Building and historic tax credits are a part of the development, it might require a small- to medium-sized TMUD tax credit of about $10 million.

NAUTICA WATERFRONT/1250 RIVERBED -- Both developments as well as the removal of parking atop Superior Viaduct to avail a Highline-type linear park could benefit from a multi-story parking garage with a green roof, level with the roadway deck of the adjacent viaduct. The parking deck might cost $25 million with roughly half funded by a medium-sized tax credit of about $13 million.

NUCLEUS -- The TMUD program's mother project will be seeking a tax credit to fill a gap in its capital stack. While the amount is unknown, Stark Enterprises sought a forgivable city loan in the amount of $12 million. If that is still the gap, then adjusted for inflation a medium-sized tax credit of about $15 million might be needed.

VAN AKEN DISTRICT PHASE 2 -- RMS Corp. seeks an office building at the corner of Warrensville Center Road and Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights. While the office building would be too small to be called a TMUD, a proposed 15-story apartment building on Farnsleigh would be eligible for a tax credit, possibly a small one of about $5 million.

An office building and residential high-rise are both proposed
for the next phase of the Van Aken District. But only the
15-story apartment tower in the upper-left part of the
 development might be a TMUD (RMS).

WESTINGHOUSE PLANT -- The amount of costly remediation and partial demolition has kept this waterfront property from being redeveloped. While it probably needs more TMUD tax credit help than it might be able to muster, it can get some more financial assistance from historic tax credits after the unsalvageable structures are removed and developed with some vertical structures. A medium-sized TMUD tax credit of about $12 million might move a redevelopment forward.

There are at least 20 other potential TMUD projects just in Greater Cleveland whose developers could tap into this program to help make them become a reality. And there are certainly others flying below the radar that could swoop in unseen until the last moment to scoop up a preliminary TMUD award. And who knows what projects may emerge in Ohio's other cities?

So that's why I don't like making predictions. But I thought it might be fun showing people how bad I am at making them. So hold on to this article and check back with me in a few years to have a nice laugh at my expense.

There are three more predictions I'm fairly confident in making. First, there are going to be a lot more cranes in the skies over Ohio's downtowns, perhaps one dozen or two dozen more as a result of this program. Second, Ohioans in each of the 3Cs are going to be keeping a running, competing tally of how many TMUDs and cranes each city will get. And, third, expect the unexpected.

END

Report: Downtown Cleveland office market withstood 2020

Insurer FM Global is the latest to move its offices downtown

At the start of the new year, downtown Cleveland looks to re-
bound from a languid 2020 in which tens of thousands of em-
ployees worked from home. In 2021, many workers will return
to the office to at least collaborate on projects (Michael Collier).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

In its latest Skyline Report, real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said downtown Cleveland's office market is far healthier than some had feared. Its report had some interesting data to share, showing that downtown is quietly waiting for the all-clear from pandemic-related restrictions to resume its renaissance.

The report also suggests that downtown Cleveland is in need of more Trophy Class or Class A multi-tenant office space either by renovating older buildings or, more likely, building new ones. With Ohio's passage of the Transformational Mixed Use Development tax credit program, developers may soon have the resources to add high-end, competitive office spaces downtown.

JLL reported that, even with some employees working remotely, "the purpose of the office will transform from a place to complete routine tasks into an environment that encourages collaboration, innovation, and social interaction."

Sherwin Williams (SHW) continues to press ahead with development of its 1-million-square-foot, single-tenant global headquarters in downtown Cleveland. A groundbreaking by the end of this year is reportedly the goal. SHW has signaled no plans to scale back the size of its project in any way.

"Driven by our continued need to serve our customers at the highest level and retain and attract top talent, we intend to build a next-generation headquarters in downtown Cleveland that ignites creativity, collaboration and industry-leading innovation," said SHW Chairman & CEO John Morikis in a written statement.

In fact, pre-development activity for SHW's HQ suggests two skyscrapers just west of Public Square along Superior Avenue. The office tower may rival the height of its Public Square neighbors. However, some are speculating that the second tower may not be an office building but a hotel built atop a parking garage.

Some of the highest-quality, most-expensive office buildings
in downtown Cleveland have the best occupancy rates. Black
floors show leased spaces. Red is vacant. Blue is hotel. Gray
is casino. Orange is a vacant sublease. Light brown is a resi-
dential conversion either existing, underway or planned (JLL).

Increasingly, downtown's new or existing offices will be built or redesigned to obtain a Healthy Building designation by providing superior standards for air quality, ventilation and natural light. Healthy buildings also help reduce the spread of bacteria and viruses by leveraging touchless technologies in high-traffic areas, JLL said. 

Despite some media reports saying downtown buildings will see a significant increase in sublease space due to the economy and remote working, JLL's research team has not seen this yet.

"Through the first nine months of the year though, this has not been the case. The amount of sublease space on the market is relatively unchanged from the end of 2019," JLL's report said.

Over the past decade, tenant demand has been disproportionally skewed towards Trophy and Class A inventory. Because of historic tax credits, 23 obsolete office buildings have been redeveloped since 2010, eliminating more than 6.1 million square feet of downtown office space.

The only multi-tenant office tower built downtown in the last decade was the 2013-built, 470,000-square-foot Ernst & Young Tower, 950 Main Ave. As a Trophy Class property, it has the third-highest rents in Cleveland yet is 97 percent leased, according to JLL.

The real estate services firm points out that a significant number of tenants have migrated from the suburbs to downtown Cleveland "to take part in the renaissance of the urban core." With the recent challenges of downtown, from COVID-19 to remote employment to civil unrest, some are speculating that companies will move back to the suburbs.

A rendering of FM Global's proposed reception area at its new
downtown Cleveland offices in the North Point Tower (HOK).

This is not likely to be the case, JLL said. It conducted a survey which found a resounding 93 percent of business leaders who currently have offices downtown have no intention of relocating to the suburbs.

Instead of offices moving to the suburbs, the exact opposite appears to be occurring.

FM Global, a Providence, RI-based commercial property insurer, will be relocating more than 100 employees from the Great Northern Corporate Center in North Olmsted to downtown Cleveland. It is leasing 32,915 square feet in the 19-story North Point Tower, 1001 Lakeside Ave., according to plans filed with the City of Cleveland. Those plans show an office layout accommodating 138 seated workers.

Last year, sources said FM Global was destined for the proposed One Lakewood Place mixed use development to give its employees a more connected, urban setting. But when Carnegie Management & Development walked away from the project, FM Global resumed its search for a more urbanized location to attract young talent.

It will spend nearly $2 million to white-box and renovate the 11th floor and part of the 12th floor of the North Point Tower, built in 1989. FM Global will also be adding new data infrastructure, an employees cafe and other amenities, plans show.

This follows news that NEOtrans broke in 2020, that Fathom marketing and Goldwater Bank N.A. Mortgage Division are relocating their offices and about nearly 150 jobs total from the suburbs to downtown.

And the biggest relocation of all is that of CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC. It intends to bring its headquarters and more than 500 employees from Brecksville to downtown Cleveland. It will renovate for $40 million the former Tap Packaging (previously The Chilcote Co.) complex in the 2100 block of Superior Ave.

Sources said the fast-growing company will likely add another 200 jobs at its new headquarters. And, in the near future, company officials reportedly anticipate increasing its headquarters workforce to 2,000 employees. Long term, one of the buildings they're looking at expanding into is the former Plain Dealer building, 1801 Superior Ave., a source said.

END

Saucy Brew Works adding new brewpub, triple production

With property acquired this week, Saucy Brew Works hopes to
start construction this summer in Independence on its second
production facility and its sixth brewpub (Saucy Brew Works).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

It's been a banner couple of years for Saucy Brew Works and their founders, Brewmaster Eric Anderson and entrepreneur Brent Zimmerman. And the long-time craft beer fanatics are teaming up for their biggest expansion yet.

Earlier this week, they closed on a property deal in suburban Independence where they plan to build a new $15+ million brewpub and production facility that will allow them to more than triple their beer-making capabilities.

Located at 5810 Rockside Woods Boulevard, the site is a 3.2-acre parcel between the Embassy Suites by Hilton and the Topgolf Cleveland which opened a year ago. That location, above the ramps linking Interstate 77 and 480, is visible from one of Ohio's busiest highway interchanges. It's why Zimmerman wanted to build there.

The Independence Saucy Brew Works will measure about
25,000 square feet, making it the largest expansion by the
four-year-old, Cleveland-based brewpub chain (SBW).

"There's 111 million cars pass that by that site each year," he said. "It's the highest traffic point in the state. Topgolf didn't pick that site by chance. There's also thousands of hotel rooms nearby and lots of businesses. It's a pretty central location."

From that location, Saucy expects to double its beer production activities and will enable the distribution of its product to three states, not just Ohio. The brewpub chain which is also noted for its pizza has grown from its first location it opened three years ago in the renovated Steelman Building, 2885 Detroit Ave. in the Hingetown section of Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood.

It has since added taprooms at Pinecrest in Orange Village, the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse downtown, Columbus' Victorian Village and will open in March in downtown Detroit. Independence will be the first new taproom since opening its flagship spot in Ohio City to include a production facility, creating more than 60 jobs in the proposed 25,000-square-foot building. Of that, about 11,000 square feet will be for production, Zimmerman said.

This is the ground-floor plan for Saucy Brew Works'
new Independence location. It will have a brewery
hall, lodge dining/lounge, two small ground-floor
event spaces and a large event space upstairs, a
store and several year-round outdoor patios as
well as a tripling of the brewpub chain's pro-
duction and distribution capabilities (SBW).

"There will be no real changes to the existing (Ohio City) facility and no reduction of employment," he said. "We will shift some production of beer to these larger facilities. We have 20 different beers available at our taprooms. So our core production will be in Independence while other beers will be brewed downtown (in Ohio City)."

Saucy Brew Works Independence LLC has already received city approvals to build. But since the City of Independence's building permit requires construction to start within six months of issuance, Saucy will have to go through the approvals process again.

Zimmerman said he didn't expect any hang-ups as Independence city officials reportedly support the project. Cuyahoga County also awarded a $1.5 million low-interest loan to aid in the project's construction earlier this year. If city approvals are given this winter, Zimmerman said he hopes to break ground in late-Spring or early-Summer. Construction could take 12-15 months.

Site plan for Saucy Brew Works' new Independence
location with nearby reference points added (SBW).

"We'll certainly have our core menu at the new location, but with some nuances as it relates to a much larger lunch crowd," he said. "There's a bunch of other things we're kicking around."

Some of the planned features include an event space for meetings and weddings. There will be roughly 2,000 square feet devoted to E-sports gaming. And Zimmerman plans an active, heated, 20,000-square-foot outdoor area with a climbing wall, children's playground, dog walk and a coffee shop.

According to its Web site, Saucy Brew Works has seen its beer production increase dramatically since it opened its Ohio City production facility in the summer of 2017. It grew from 799 barrels in its first year to 4,966 barrels last year. With the Independence production facility and the opening of new brewpubs, Zimmerman said production could grow to 15,000 barrels per year in a couple of years.

END

Campus District asks GCRTA for Downtown Loop study

The Waterfront Line could attract more ridership and boost
development on the east side of downtown Cleveland if the
light-rail line went somewhere other than a parking lot on
the city's windswept lakefront, said a community develop-
ment corporation in a letter to the transit authority (KJP).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

 
In a recent letter, a downtown Cleveland community development corporation (CDC) urged the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) to revisit its 2000 Waterfront Line Phase II study that found extending the light-rail line as a Downtown Loop to be feasible.

The letter, sent Dec. 21 by the Campus District to GCRTA General Manager and CEO India Birdsong, followed a Dec. 11 vote by the CDC's board of trustees to make the request of the transit authority. The CDC joined with the statewide nonprofit organization All Aboard Ohio in asking for a reevaluation of the proposed Downtown Loop as a 2.5-mile extension of the 2.2-mile Waterfront Line.

"We believe this could be a catalytic project for our neighborhood and would better connect our anchor institutions with each other, as well as connect the greater community to a thriving downtown," Campus District Executive Director Mark Lammon wrote in the letter to GCRTA.

The Waterfront Line was built in 1996 for $70 million as an extension of the Shaker Heights-Tower City light-rail Blue and Green lines. Despite early ridership exceeding GCRTA's projections, the Waterfront Line has not lived up to expectations since.

All Aboard Ohio, a passenger rail and transit advocacy association, argued that the rail line was never intended to end in the Municipal Parking Lot. The group said a range of options should be considered for the future of the rail line, but it favored the Downtown Loop.

Stations on Cleveland's rapid transit
system are within a 5-minute walk
of only about one-third of the cen-
tral business district. A Downtown
Loop on East 17th Street could put
two-thirds within a 5-minute walk,
while a routing via East 13th Street
could put about 90 percent within
that 5-minute walk (AAO).

The Waterfront Line is shut down for the winter as GCRTA began a major track reconstruction project in the Tower City Center station. The work has cut off track access to the Waterfront Line. But GCRTA opted not to provide interim bus service to Waterfront Line stations. The transit authority also will be refurbishing for $4 million a light-rail bridge over Front Street and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

Abandonment of the Waterfront Line probably isn't realistic. GCRTA would have to refund to the Federal Transit Administration up to $10 million in state-of-good-repair grants it used in the past decade to keep the rail infrastructure in a safe and operable condition, All Aboard Ohio contended in a briefing paper. 

“GCRTA should consider expanding the Waterfront Line, as originally intended, to reach important destinations in and near Downtown Cleveland,” said All Aboard Ohio Executive Director Stu Nicholson in a written statement on its Web site. “Continuing the status quo is the only option GCRTA should not be embrace.”

At the Dec.11th board meeting of the Campus District, its directors voted to join with All Aboard Ohio in endorsing the reevaluation of the proposed Downtown Loop as an extension of the Waterfront Line. In 2000, GCRTA identified a preferred routing for the Waterfront Line Phase II, via East 17th Street, Prospect Avenue, East 22nd Street, Community College Avenue and East 30th Street.

But development of all of GCRTA's major capital projects was halted in the recession of the early 2000s except for the HealthLine bus rapid transit on Euclid Avenue. It was already too far along to halt, Nicholson said.

GCRTA's newest capital projects have produced very good
results such as the 2015-built Little Italy-University Circle
Red Line rail station. New developments have popped up
near it since including two visible here -- the $70 million
Centric Apartments seen just beyond the station and the
$7 million Mayfield Station Apartments just finishing
up construction in the center of the image (KJP).

"The investments that RTA has made in the Campus District have led to significant economic development," Lammon continued. "The HealthLine was transformative to Euclid Avenue and continues to see development today. The Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center and the reconstruction of the Tri-C-Campus District Rapid Station (at East 34th Street) have ensured that the district remains a transit hub.

"We believe that extending the Waterfront Line to the Campus District Rapid Station through our neighborhood would also continue this return on investment," Lammon said.

He said the Downtown Loop will open new entryways into the central business district, expanding access to the Campus District's vital jobs centers and diminishing the infrastructural divides leftover from redlining. 

"We understand the challenges facing RTA today, however we believe that at least revisiting the 2000 Downtown Loop Study and determining its feasibility is worth considering the impact to our neighborhood and all of downtown," Lammon concluded.

All Aboard Ohio said consideration of a Downtown Loop could be included as part of GCRTA’s ongoing Next Gen system planning and 2030 Strategic Planning processes. According to both groups, GCRTA has not yet responded to the Campus District CDC's letter or to All Aboard Ohio's Nov. 30 letter.

The Waterfront Line attracts crowds for special events like the
2018 Cleveland National Air Show, Cleveland Browns games,
and waterfront festivals at North Coast Harbor and the Flats.
But the Campus District said it could help turn downtown
into more of a 15-minute city in which all of its neigh-
borhood assets are accessible within a 15-minute
walk, bike ride or transit trip (KJP).

The 2000 Waterfront Line Phase II study showed that a Downtown Loop could produce enough ridership at relatively low costs to justify federal construction funds. Back then, the Federal Transit Administration looked favorably on transit expansions that had a cost per new rider lower than $20. The Downtown Loop was estimated at a cost per new rider of less than $14.

“That was before Downtown Cleveland increased its residential population by more than 100 percent, saw downtown employers grow with more than $7.25 billion worth of investment, and attracted new corporate offices from the suburbs and other metro areas,” Nicholson said. “And it was well before GCRTA considered replacing its rail fleet with a standard rail car that can travel on any of its five lines, plus future ones.”

Nicholson said that a significant part of a local funding share for the project might be raised from a short-term tax-increment financing district along the Downtown Loop. The 2000 study estimated that the Downtown Loop could attract 2.2 million square feet of nonresidential development, nearly 1,000 housing units, $441 million in overall development (in 2000 dollars), nearly 9,000 permanent jobs, $250 million in new payroll and $17.8 million in new local tax revenues per year.

Thanks to the federal CARES Act, GCRTA's board recently passed a budget that could allow it to end 2021 with a $49 million reserve that will protect it from further emergencies and will probably also help it reduce its borrowing costs for major capital projects.

All Aboard Ohio also recently noted that Greater Cleveland will receive about $74 million in transit stimulus funds from the second round of federal pandemic aid. The advocacy group is urging that some of that money be used for transit-oriented developments near rail and bus stations, as well as reducing GCRTA's significant state-of-good-repair backlog.

END

Megaproject tax credit signed into law

This scene could become much more common in Ohio's largest
cities thanks to a megaproject tax-credit program signed into
 law today by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (MBN).

In the coming decade, the state bird of Ohio may well be the construction crane.

That's especially true in Ohio's six largest metropolitan areas where more than two-thirds of Ohioans live. That's because Ohio cities of more than 100,000 population, and places within 10 miles of them, will be the sites of megaprojects receiving anywhere from $240 million to $320 million in Transformational Mixed Use Development (TMUD) tax credits in the next few years.

The reason is Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine today signed into law Substitute Senate Bill 39, authorizing the creation of the TMUD tax credit program. Now it will be up to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority (OTCA) to formulate rules for the administration of the program and offer the first issuance of tax credits possibly by summer 2021.

There are literally dozens of major real estate development projects just in the city of Cleveland that could be eligible for the TMUD tax credit. If they're awarded credits, the projects could create tens of thousands of new jobs and help bring many more residents and commercial tenants into the city. An inventory of these potential Cleveland-area projects was covered recently by NEOtrans.

The Ohio General Assembly passed Sub. Sen. Bill 39 earlier this month.

Property owners pursuing a TMUD can request a tax credit equal to 10 percent of the estimated development costs for the project. Also, an insurance company can request a tax credit equal to 10 percent of its capital contribution to the TMUD project.

In either case, the amount cannot exceed $40 million per TMUD. If both a property owner and an insurance company investor seek a tax credit for the same project, the property owner will receive a tax credit minus any estimated credit amounts that have been preliminarily approved for insurance companies contributing capital to the project.

Stark Enterprises came up with the TMUD tax credit idea to
help fill a gap in its capital stack for the nuCLEus develop-
ment in downtown Cleveland. Now that the idea is law, it
will become available to the entire state (Bialoasky).

There will be at least three years of tax credits and $80 million of tax credits authorized per for year for Ohio's six largest urban areas, or $240 million total. Another $20 million per year will be available for development projects in smaller cities. The program is due to sunset June 30, 2023.

The bill's lead sponsor, State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R-29, Canton), notified NEOtrans that the governor had signed the bill. Schuring said the law can always be extended past 2023 if the TMUD program proves successful.

"It's called the Ohio Revised Code, which means we can make changes to it," Schuring said. 

It is also possible that the bill's entire four years of tax credits totaling $400 million could be issued, including those in the program's first fiscal year 2020 that ended June 30, 2020, Schuring said. There are at least two reasons why.

First and foremost, Sub. SB 39 states that "unused tax credits can be carried forward for five years." Second, the Ohio Constitution allows for it, despite Article II, Section 28 which states that "The general assembly shall have no power to pass retroactive laws, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts."

But Section 28 goes on to say that lawmakers "may, by general laws, authorize courts to carry into effect, upon such terms as shall be just and equitable, the manifest intention of parties, and officers, by curing omissions, defects, and errors, in instruments and proceedings, arising out of their want of conformity with the laws of this state."

Projects the scale of Flats East Bank's future phases might
now go from the drawing board to groundbreaking thanks
to the passage of the TMUD program (DCA/Wolstein).

This was enforced in 1988 when, in Van Fossen v. Babcock Wilcox Co., the Ohio Supreme Court said a statute is presumed to be prospective in its operation unless expressly made retrospective. Sub. SB 39 is a substantive law (ie: not remedial) in that, when unused tax credits are carried forward from an earlier fiscal year. It does not impair or take away a vested or substantive right or impose new or additional burdens, duties, obligations or liabilities as to a past transaction. The tax credits will all be new transactions.

"I think your assumptions are right," said a NEOtrans source who is a practicing attorney on real estate matters but chose to stay off-record. "But I also think this will lead to some litigation that may clarify."

"We'll be watching the (OTCA's) rulemaking," Schuring pledged.

The originator of the TMUD tax credit, Bob Stark, CEO of Stark Enterprises, said he didn't have the legal expertise on this matter to offer an opinion, although he received a juris doctorate at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Stark sought the TMUD tax credit to fill a gap in his firm's capital stack for the roughly $300 million nuCLEus project, proposed to rise in Downtown Cleveland's Gateway neighborhood. The project has gone through several revisions, the most recent of which would offer a 25-story office tower over a pedestal of parking and retail.

Between now and June 30, 2023, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public-sector capital investment will be directed to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton and Akron and their immediate hinterlands. Those are Ohio's cities with populations of 100,000 or more and the suburbs within 10 miles of each.

Millennia Companies CEO Frank Sinito testified to an Ohio
House of Representatives Committee in support of the TMUD
tax credit, saying that it could help his company afford rede-
veloping 925 Euclid Ave. as The Centennial -- a 1.36-million-
square-foot mixed-use project (Millennia).

Projects like the 26-story North Market Tower in Downtown Columbus, the 20-acre Cincinnati Innovation District in the city's Walnut Hills neighborhood and potentially dozens of projects in Cleveland and its inner-ring suburbs could all see significant investment from the TMUD tax credit program.

These and other projects and their backers look to public subsidies to overcome stagnant rents and high land development costs on vacant or underutilized properties in Ohio's largest cities where everyone from public officials to private investors want to attract jobs and residents.

"Our public-sector clients in Ohio are often presented with challenging sites that have immense potential for catalytic redevelopment, but are inhibited by physical constraints and market forces beyond their control such as aging, antiquated infrastructure, environmentally contaminated parcels, and a loss of manufacturing employment," said Emil Liszniansky, principal, Envision Group LLC in his SB 39 testimony last year to the Ohio House of Representatives' Economic and Workforce Development Committee.

"Redevelopment projects of this magnitude require not only an ambitious developer with foresight and committed financing, but also government assistance at multiple levels," he added. "Our experience is that transformative projects in Ohio, especially in aging industrial cities, do not generally occur without layered public subsidy. In the absence of government assistance, these sites often sit vacant for years."

"Having more tools in the tool kit will help," said MidTown Cleveland Executive Director Jeff Epstein. "I'd have to see the details in the final version (of the TMUD bill) but it certainly could help with some things that are on the drawing board."

"It (the bill) offers a 10 percent tax credit to development projects that will be catalytic and truly transformational to the area where they're located," Schuring said. "To that end, the House added some of amendments that I think are beneficial to that endeavor because we want it to be a net tax gain."

The skyline of downtown Cleveland will probably have several
new additions in the coming decade thanks to the passage of
the TMUD program, not to mention other projects like Sher-
win-Williams' new headquarters complex that are moving
forward without need of these tax credits (Reddit).

"It's a new paradigm in doing tax credits," Schuring continued, "so that when we have a developer who says that he or she is going to do a megaproject, we're asking them to show, demanding that they show to a pro forma that they're actually going to generate more new taxes and is reflected in the (tax credit) certificate."

Rather than getting an automatic 10 percent tax credit upon the completion of the project, the developer or the insurance company investor will get 5 percent at the outset. Then, the investor may receive the remaining 5 percent incrementally as the new taxes come in from the project. The investor will have to document a gain in local tax revenues in order to secure the remaining tax credit.

Ohio's unfortunate urban-rural/exurban divide briefly reared its ugly head at a Dec. 9th Senate session, verbalized by Sen. William Coley II (R-4, Liberty Twp.). The Senate voted at that session to concur with an Ohio House-amended version of the bill and forward it on to the governor for his signature.

"I regretfully cannot support this bill as the the project definitions with the bill are so specific as to exclude anything in my district in fact anything in most of your districts," Coley said. "While I appreciate the intention of the bill, I believe that by making it so prescriptive as to help certain projects and certain people's districts if it works to the detriment of the rest of Ohio and thus defeats the very purpose of the bill."

The Southwest Ohio lawmaker was joined by Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-27, Hudson) as the only two senators to vote against the bill. Before that vote, Sen. Matt Dolan (R-24, Chagrin Falls) quickly rose up on the senate floor to speak in defense of the TMUD tax credit.

"In some respects, he (Colely) is right about this bill," Dolan said. "This bill is not designed to be in most of our districts including mine. This bill is designed to bring massive projects into our urban areas."

He said it would be erroneous to suggest that the benefits to Ohio will go no further than its largest cities if they get a TMUD project as a result of the new tax credit program. New residents, businesses and jobs would come to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo and Akron, he explained.

"We're not really understanding how economies grow and how states grow," Dolan continued. "This is designed for a specific type of project, not for a particular project, but a type of project which will not only pay for itself thanks to the good work of Senator Schuring but will drive the economy of our urban areas which will benefit all of Ohio."

END

Drilling points to 2 Sherwin-Williams skyscrapers

Crews working on behalf of Sherwin-Williams' headquarters
development team are measuring the depths to bedrock for
digging caissons to support new skyscrapers of more than 30
stories tall. Interestingly, the drilling crews this week moved
from working on the former Jacobs Lot on downtown Cleve-
land's Public Square to the west side of West 3rd Street, be-
tween Superior and Frankfort avenues (Ian Meadows).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Geotechnical drilling crews returned in recent weeks to the parking lots west of Cleveland's Public Square to gather more data for the design of Sherwin-Williams' (SHW) new headquarters. In so doing, the biggest question was whether they would drill into more than just one lot. The answer could provide insight as to what HQ facilities SHW might build and where. And how tall.

Based on recent insights posted here at NEOtrans and added to several months later, there wasn't much surprise that drilling crews from Ohio TestBor of Hinckley were digging 3-inch wells down to bedrock to measure their depths below a parking lot previously owned by the Jacobs Group at the northwest edge of Public Square.

Such deep drilling points to a skyscraper of 30 stories or more. The reason is that tall, heavy buildings in Cleveland must be built atop caissons that extend 200 feet or more down to bedrock.

There is every indication that the new SHW HQ tower on Public Square will approach if not surpass the 45-story, 658-foot height of 200 Public Square. It might even exceed the 52-story, 708-foot height of Terminal Tower. If so, that would make it the second-tallest building in Cleveland, trailing only the 57-story, 948-foot Key Tower.

After all, it was where the Ameritrust HQ tower would have been built 30 years ago. And it was where SHW was looking at building its HQ skyscraper four to six years ago, too. That effort was put on hold while SHW acquired its rival Valspar. A rendering from SHW's 2014-16 effort reportedly was borrowed by the Greater Cleveland Partnership and others for their campaign to woo Amazon's HQ2 to Cleveland.

An unofficial concept of SHW's new HQ featuring a
700+ foot base tower, a parking garage topped by
a hotel west of West 3rd Street, north of Superior
Avenue and a training center at West 6th Street
and Superior, plus a new public parking deck
north of Frankfort Avenue (Ian McDaniel).

But what wasn't known was if Ohio TestBor would drill down to bedrock below more than just the former Jacobs Lot. That would indicate a second skyscraper in a multi-structure, 6.8-acre SHW HQ. It has always been assumed that SHW would construct its tallest HQ building on the ex-Jacobs Lot.

The answer is that, yes, Ohio TestBor soon moved off the 1.17-acre ex-Jacobs Lot and onto the 5.63-acre Superblock, bounded by West 3rd and West 6th streets, plus Superior and St. Clair avenues. The narrow alley Frankfort Avenue slices through the midsection of the Superblock.

Their extra drilling work was restricted to an area near West 3rd, between Frankfort and Superior. Ohio TestBor crews so far haven't been seen venturing any farther west or north into the Superblock to drill.

On the other hand, Enviroprobe Integrated Solutions Inc. also had a geotech drilling crew working on the Superblock. First-hand observations as well as those by reliable sources indicate that only Enviroprobe has poked holes in the ground near West 6th and Superior.

When asked, Enviroprobe crews said they weren't drilling to bedrock. Ohio TestBor crews confirmed that they were drilling to bedrock. Humorously, when one of the Ohio TestBor crew members was asked if they were drilling for the new SHW HQ, he responded with "I have no idea. They just told us to find rock."

There are those who say this rendering, used as a marketing
piece to recruit Amazon's HQ2, was originally drawn to
depict SHW's HQ proposal of 2014-16. Additional build-
ings supposedly were added to the visual for the Amazon
PR. The tallest new building shown would be built on
the former Jacobs Lot. The second tallest would be
built just across West 3rd Street from it (GCP).

It should also be noted that each group of crews was working in different locations on the SHW-owned lots. So what can we learn from this information? Potentially -- a great deal.

In 1991, the Jacobs Group was finalizing its designs for the 63-story, 1,198-foot Ameritrust HQ tower on Public Square. Most of the parking for this supertall was to be across West 3rd in a stand-alone, square, multi-level garage touching the corners of Superior, West 3rd and Frankfort. Fourteen years earlier, this site was to be the site of a roughly 20-story office building for First Union Realty Trust.

More recently, SHW started looking at a new HQ in 2014 and zeroed in on the Jacobs Lot as their favored site, according to multiple sources who worked on the pre-development of that project. Then as now, SHW planned a 1-million-square-foot tower on Public Square with a parking deck touching the corners of Superior, West 3rd and Frankfort.

But there were differing opinions among those sources about what, if anything, SHW would have built on top of that parking deck. Some said they weren't aware of anything being planned atop it. Others said a tall building was planned there, albeit half as tall as the one on the former Jacobs Lot.

SHW's 2014-16 HQ intentions are instructive because SHW doesn't appear to be veering too far from them in this latest effort. Then as now, they appear to want an HQ tower of about 44-55 stories high, or roughly 650-750 feet tall. They appear to want a big parking deck across West 3rd. And, based on the ongoing drilling-to-bedrock work, they appear to want a big building built atop it sooner or later.

Ohio TestBor drilling rigs showed up Dec. 10
on the former Jacobs Lot on Public Square to
dig to bedrock, indicating that buildings more
than 30 stories tall are planned and that cais-
sons extending to bedrock would be needed
to support them (Pete Marek).

Even if a big building isn't built atop that deck in the first phase, the parking garage would have to be built in such a manner to support one in the future. That means constructing a reinforced parking garage atop caissons that descend to bedrock.

But it's interesting that the drilling to bedrock on the west side of West 3rd has been concentrated near West 3rd and adjacent to Frankfort. No holes were apparently drilled to bedrock next to Superior.

Ohio TestBor crews said today they have drilled a half-dozen holes to bedrock by West 3rd and Frankfort with another three holes to go. The remaining holes will also be in the same area near West 3rd and Frankfort, they said.

SHW said their HQ will be 1 million square feet, not including structured parking. If a 1-million-square-foot HQ tower is built at the northwest corner of Public Square, what does that leave for SHW to build above a possible parking garage on the other side of West 3rd?

Ohio TestBor drilling crews measured the depth to bedrock
on the west side of West 3rd Street this week. This site and
the former Jacobs Lot in the background and to the right
apparently are the sites for two Sherwin-Williams sky-
scrapers, each at least 30 stories tall (Ian Meadows).

The answer may lie in another use SHW will reportedly bring downtown -- the training of its employees. Training of vice presidents, salespeople, information technology, human resources and other on-the-job development will all be consolidated from the southwest suburbs and University Circle to the new headquarters site.

The new 1-million-square-foot base headquarters building on Public Square will consolidate 1 million square feet of offices from multiple buildings downtown and Warrensville Heights. It doesn't account for training activities moved downtown -- or the lodging they will need for up to a week at a time. Some visitors, including larger customers, contractors and suppliers, will be in town for even longer.

According to a source, those visitors will fill an average of more than 100 hotel rooms per night during the week. That number will grow as SHW grows. Since it's an average, it is likely that the lodging requirements will, at times, be much larger. SHW could build the hotel and contract it out to a flag like Home2 Suites by Hilton, TownePlace Suites or similar to operate it.

So could SHW be considering building an extended-stay hotel atop a parking garage touching the corners of Superior, West 3rd and Frankfort? Or a training facility? Quite possibly. Their scale could require a tall building.

Another view of the unofficial rendering of the SHW
HQ showing a potential second skyscraper of about
30-35 stories comprised of a, extended-stay hotel
over a large parking deck (Ian McDaniel).

At least 100 suites (probably double that) measuring up to 600 square feet per suite might be involved, with non-revenue spaces (lobby, fitness center, utilities, aquatic center, laundry rooms, etc.) adding about another 400 square feet per key.

Those ingredients could produce an extended-stay hotel of about 200,000 square feet or more. At 10,000-15,000 square feet per floor, that works out to 13 to 20 stories. Below it could be a parking garage for 1,500 cars at 350 square feet per car, complete with first-floor lobbies and commercial spaces. The parking garage alone could top out at a dozen levels. Combined, this parking-lodging structure on the west side of West 3rd could reach 25 to 30 stories or higher.

This is a logical explanation of why Ohio TestBor is drilling down to bedrock at two distinct locations on the SHW HQ site. Perhaps SHW also plans a separate building for training with classrooms and maybe a ground-floor flagship retail store, in part for training purposes and to introduce new products. But this wouldn't be large enough to justify a second skyscraper unless it is included with the hotel and parking deck.

Either way, SHW's sub-contractors will need to wrap up their poking around soon and deliver their findings to the base building architect HGA Architects and Engineers, LLC as well as the overall HQ's design firm Pickard Chilton Architects, Inc. SHW reportedly hopes to start HQ construction by this time next year.

Pete Marek, Ian Meadows and Ian McDaniel contributed to this article.

END