If you haven’t been to Cleveland lately, well, you’re in for a SURPRISE. Over the past several years, the city has thoroughly redeveloped its urban center and debuted numerous COMPELLING entertainment and cultural venues to place this bold Midwest jewel among the most WELCOMING of meetings-friendly destinations. And, with new offerings that promise to attract both first-time and renewed visits, there’s even MORE on the way.
Essential Toolbox:
Convention Facilities: Cleveland Convention Center, 375,000 sf of dedicated meeting space; 37 meeting rooms, largest accommodates 10,000 theater-style.
International Exposition & Conference Center, 800,000 sf of dedicated meeting space; 35 meeting rooms, largest accommodates 4,000 theater-style.
Total Hotel Rooms: 22,000
Rooms Close to the Convention Center: 1,729
From Airport to Center: 12.3 miles
Average Daily Business Travel Costs*:
Hotel $155.59
F&B $59.10
Car Rental $91.05
For More Info:
CVB of Greater Cleveland
www.travelcleveland.com
*Business Travel News 2005 Corporate Travel
THE BIG NEWS
The Cleveland Museum of Art, a 1916 classic public structure in Cleveland’s University Circle area, is gearing up for a $258-million expansion and renovation. With a design courtesy of internationally renowned architect Rafael Vinoly, the museum will break ground next month, setting the stage for a six-year construction schedule. The museum will preserve the original 89-year-old building and 1971 addition, but gallery space will increase 41 percent from 89,000 sf to 125,000 sf, and the overall space will increase from 389,000 sf to 588,000 sf.
Special exhibition space for traveling shows will grow by 39 percent, from6,500 sf to 9,100 sf, allowing the art museum to showcase blockbuster exhibits. When the West Wing debuts—the final phase of the project to be com-pleted in 2011—it will include new galleries, a restaurant, a cafe, and a 34,000-sf skylighted “piazza.” Elsewhere, a slew of retail/entertainment complexes are opening, including the $450-million Crocker Park in Westlake. Eton Collection recently underwent a $50-million expansion and renovation, which added six stores and five restaurants. Legacy Village, located on the city’s east side, is a new $145- million, 600,000-sf, open-air shopping center that features 62 stores as well as a variety of new restaurants.
FACILITIES UPDATE
A $168-million transportation and downtown urban
renewal project is under way for Euclid Avenue. To be completed in 2006, the project will transform Euclid Avenue into a tree-lined boulevard, equipped with new sidewalks, new bus stations, and pedestrian lighting, not to mention new restaurants, apartments, hotels and retail shops.
-- Cleveland Hopkins International Airportnis finishing up a $1.4-billion expansion and renovation that includes two main parallel runways, which will allow simultaneous take-off and landing; new, new retail, F&B
concessions, and improved signage throughout
the airport.
- The 472-room Crowne Plaza Hotel Cleveland City Centre, formerly Sheraton, opened in April and has plans to complete a $2-million renovation by the end of the year.
- The 295-room Cleveland Marriott East opened with a conference center with 15,000 sf of meeting space, Wi-Fi
Internet, and a business center.
- The Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center is in the midst of a $10-million tech renovation.
GROUPS SHOULD CONSIDER these recommendations from the Successful Meetings Home
Team experts. Top choices include the 208-room Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, and the 491-room Renais-sance
Cleveland Hotel Tower City.
Contributors to this section include Home Team members Lorraine Cruz, CMP; Kimberly Ruby; and Veronica Scrimshaw. Contact them at siteseditor@successful
meetings.com
READERS RECOMMEND
Our subscribers gave Pinnacle Awards to the following:
CVB of Greater Cleveland
Renaissance Cleveland Hotel
Building on a Dream
After 83 years, Cleveland figures it could use a new convention center, and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers thinks so too. The firm’s assessment, in a study prompted by the city’s Convention Facilities Authority: If Cleveland builds it, the busi-ness will come. A new center, the study says, would attract hundreds of thousands of added convention and trade show visitors, lured by a replacement to the 278,000-sf center which opened downtown in 1922. Possible sites for the new facility include the existing locale, which would be a renovation and expansion, or on the Cuyahoga River waterfront for a brand-new facility. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, Cleveland has every right to be button-busting proud of its sparkling Lake Erie waterfront. And far from neglecting it, the city is undertaking a massive redevelopment that will transform eight miles and 3,000 acres along the water. On tap- replacing the current freeway with a tree-lined boulevard, adding new attractions including a trolley museum and a “Rock Block” of restaurants and shops, laying in an 18-hole golf course, and expanding the parklands. The makeover of Cleveland continues.
Rescue And Rebirth
Cleveland’s Playhouse Square Center is the largest
performing arts center in the country outside of New York City, and a rare concentration of compelling entertainment options and historical meetings and event venues. Its five magnificently restored theaters include the State, Palace, Ohio, Allen, and Hanna theaters, dating from 1921. The three largest—the Palace, State and Allen—can accommodate lavish productions of award-winning shows on tour, such as Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, and Phantom of the Opera, while the intimacy of the other venues encourages audience interaction in smaller-scale productions. Available for banquets and receptions are the lobbies and stages of the Palace, State, and Allen theaters, with various ornate rooms perfect for board gatherings. The out-door Star Plaza accommodates al fresco receptions.
9 Great Places for Group Meals in Cleveland
The restaurants below have group facilities and
were selected from the Zagat Survey of the
Cleveland. The order was determined by Zagat’s
food and service ratings of 23 and above and a price
of up to $60 per person (without alcohol):
Johnny’s Bar, Continental, West Boulevard
Lola Bistro & Wine Bar, American, Tremont
Blue Pointe Grille, Seafood, Warehouse District
Baricelli Inn, Continental, Murray Hill
Johnny’s Downtown, Northern, Warehouse District
Johnny’s Bistro, Continental, Warehouse District
Hyde Park Prime, Steakhouse, Public Square
Morton’s, the Steakhouse, Steakhouse, Public Square
fire, American, Shaker Square
For more information on these and other restaurants in the Cleveland area, please click on www.zagat.com