County officials urge Haslams to keep Browns downtown

City-owned Cleveland Browns Stadium has been the venue for the National Football
League team’s home games since 1999. And after the team’s lease expires following
the 2028 football season, city and now Cuyahoga County officials want the team to
play there for another 30 years following a $1 billion renovation (Iryna Tkachenko).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Two Cuyahoga County leaders sent a letter today to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam urging the football team to keep playing at the stadium on the Downtown Cleveland lakefront rather than build a new domed stadium in suburban Brook Park. County Executive Chris Ronayne and Cuyahoga County Council President Pernel Jones Jr. said the Haslams’ Brook Park plan “does not make fiscal sense.”

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Cuyahoga County cleans up with brownfield bucks

In Downtown Cleveland, Bedrock’s Riverfront Development is planned on the Tower
City Center side of the Cuyahoga River. But the riverfront land has historically been
used for industrial purposes for nearly two centuries and needs to be cleaned up before
new construction can begin. Cuyahoga Land Bank won $10 million to help make
that happen (Adjaye Associates). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., known simply as the Cuyahoga Land Bank, has secured multiple funding awards from the Ohio Department of Development’s Brownfield Remediation Program for demolishing more than 1,100 structures, mostly blighted single-family homes in Cleveland and East Cleveland. But there are also multiple funding awards it got for cleaning up polluted industrial sites so they can be redeveloped for new housing and jobs.

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Greyhound/Barons station may move to Brookpark rapid

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s Brookpark Rapid Station in
suburban Brook Park could soon host a Greyhound and Barons intercity bus
station, too. Negotiations are underway for an agreement among the
transportation providers to make that a reality (Tom Horsman).
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The Cleveland Browns aren’t the only one considering a move from Downtown Cleveland to suburban Brook Park. Now, it’s Greyhound/Barons intercity bus services that could move to the west-side suburb near Cleveland International Hopkins Airport.

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15 women investors back Cleveland’s NWSL bid

Fifteen Cleveland-area businesswomen have joined forces to financially support the
Cleveland Soccer Group’s bid for a National Women’s Soccer League expansion
team. The investors are a who’s-who of Cleveland-area women business
leaders (CSG). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG), which submitted a bid for Cleveland to be awarded a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion team, announced today that it is being backed by a group of 15 local, influential businesswomen as investors. However, the money they have raised thus far has not be publicly disclosed. If successful, this would be Ohio’s first women’s professional soccer team.

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Haslams reveal Brook Park domed stadium plans

The Haslam Sports Group released this and other renderings today in officially announcing
the proposed venue for Cleveland Browns’ home games in suburban Brook Park (HKS
Architects). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

One day after NEOtrans broke the news that the Cleveland Browns’ home games would likely be moved from Downtown Cleveland to a proposed domed stadium in suburban Brook Park (and why), the football team’s owner Haslam Sports Group has outlined what that could look like. However, the Haslams stopped short of saying it was a done deal despite their obvious enthusiasm about the Brook Park stadium-development.

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It’s Brook Park

This is a conceptual rendering commissioned by the Haslam Sports Group showing
the future home of the Cleveland Browns in suburban Brook Park along with park-
ing and stadium-area development, starting with a hotel, restaurants, shops and
public spaces (anonymous). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

A COMMENTARY

In the coming weeks, the owners of the Cleveland Browns will reveal their plans to build a $3.6 billion domed stadium and associated development in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park. According to public sector sources familiar with the plans, owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have their capital funding identified for the stadium and a small first phase of development.

Cost of the new domed stadium and the provision of about 20,000 parking spaces, almost entirely in surface lots, is estimated at $2.2 billion. Half of that will be privately funded and create new tax revenues that will fund the other half. Much of the funding for the stadium will come from bonds serviced by new stadium-related revenues and city, county and state taxes generated by stadium activities and employment. Another $1.4 billion in private, stadium-area development is planned.

The Haslams have reportedly identified their bond financing firm, a company with lots of experience in financing sports stadiums, arenas and entertainment venues. And they have hired their joint-venture construction management team for the Brook Park site — M.A. Mortenson Co. of Minneapolis and Independence Construction of Independence, soon to be relocated to Brecksville.

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Cleveland Moves plan seeks resident input

Cleveland city planners want your input to develop a transportation plan for the
community that makes walking, biking and taking transit safer and more enjoy-
able for people (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.

The City of Cleveland recently launched public engagement for Cleveland Moves — the city’s five-year multimodal transportation plan. Cleveland Moves will create a strategy that builds on the city’s ongoing work to make it safer, more comfortable, and more convenient to walk, bike, and take transit in the city. A presentation about the planning process and its goals was delivered yesterday to the City Planning Commission.

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