Midtown’s Momentum Grows

This article is originally from Properties magazine published July 2025.

Far from being just another office building along Euclid Avenue, the 98,000-square-foot MidTown Collaboration Center (6579 Euclid Ave., Cleveland) serves as a catalyst for community revitalization. The three-story building, featuring a red terra cotta façade, sits directly across East 66th from the Cleveland Foundation Headquarters, which opened in 2023.

“We didn’t move to Midtown just to build our building,” says Lillian Kuri, CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “It was a much larger vision to move here and do two things. One was to connect downtown and University Circle. We’re a city with two downtowns. By leveraging the bus, rapid transit and the health tech corridor, we can eventually feel like one connected city. And secondly, it was to really change the conversation about the east side neighborhoods, which haven’t received as much investment.”

It was all part of their vision
“Our board decided to move here from downtown when we were able to assemble enough land and show a bigger vision here,” explains Kuri. “Where we are today, next to Dunham Tavern Museum and their park space — we believe this intersection in this district is the ‘there-there’ that’s been missing.”

Before building the foundation’s headquarters here, it accumulated almost 11 acres, between Euclid and Chester, from the Dunham Tavern to Dave’s Supermarket. The current planning would allow as many as eight buildings, totaling potentially one million square feet.

Kuri explains that they had also envisioned an Innovation District that would attract jobs and opportunities, noting that Cleveland Foundation’s Chief Growth Officer and CFO Rosanne Potter proposed a unique approach.

“Rosanne Potter suggested that we build the building ourselves, partnering with the right institutions, and to do it in a way that no one has done it in America, taking an innovation building that’s internal and turn it outward,” Kuri says.

“Every tenant here serves the community in any number of unique ways,” explains Potter. “Some help entrepreneurs get jobs. Others provide capital for those wanting to start a business. One provides actual healthcare in this building. There’s education around community health. There also are a beautiful restaurant and brewery to serve the neighborhood with great food and drinks. There are arts for the community and education for students. Every tenant is not only making themselves available, but what they do is directly involved in serving the community from a health and/or wealth-building aspect.”

In addition, at one time or another, all the non-profit tenants in the building have been recipients of grants from the Cleveland Foundation.

Based on the foundation’s commitment, it has been laser-focused on ensuring that neighborhood residents are aware of the innovation, research and access to capital available to all.

“Jumpstart is really our entrepreneur partner; it’s our incubator,” says Potter. “They’re very capital intensive at every stage and startup opportunities. They’re very focused on the region and how they can change the demographics of business ownership within Northeast Ohio. And they’ve done a terrific job in that respect. They also provide a lot of business acumen to other entrepreneurs and see them through all stages of growth, not just providing seed capital, but really teaching them, mentoring them, doing bankability with them, and going with them through the whole process.”

“And now, Jumpstart serves as our anchor tenant in the MidTown Collaboration Center,” explains Victor Barbalato, Cleveland Foundation’s Vice President of Real Estate. “They actually manage the building, along with Michael Hood from our office, providing a year-long program of events available to community members.”

Development challenges
Prior to building either the Cleveland Foundation building or the MidTown Collaboration Center, MPC had acquired a good portion of this acreage. One of the biggest challenges was the cleanup needed on these 10-plus acres, which kept the properties dormant for years. No developer could afford to take it on until philanthropic dollars stepped in to de-risk the land. According to Potter, this project is unique nationally. Their foundation was the first to fund a district of this size with catalytic capital. By playing this unique role, the foundation believes that other market-rate developers will now become interested in the area.

Also, duplicating their innovative effort on the headquarters building, the foundation made use of their 3.4 billion dollar endowment. For construction costs above what the New Market Tax Credits would cover, they borrowed from themselves. Instead of going to a commercial lender, they made a mission-related investment in themselves. And now, for the next 30 years, they will make principal and interest payments back to the foundation.

Assembling the project team
As on its headquarters project, Cleveland Foundation relied on Regency Construction Services to act as owner’s representative and issue the RFP for both design and construction services. Three firms competed for each and Vocon was awarded the design work. Turner Construction was selected as construction manager at risk for the project. “We helped facilitate the construction process between the design team, construction manager at risk and other third party entities to ensure that the best value and service for the project possible,” says Nate Ahern, Marketing Coordinator with Regency Construction Services.

Kuri explains that this project’s success was rooted in thoughtful design — architecture that’s warm, welcoming and community-centered. “Residents said they wanted a space that felt like home, and through deep engagement, the design team delivered exactly that,” she says. “Vocon translated our vision into a place that truly feels like it belongs to the neighborhood.”

“We were very excited to be offered the opportunity to work with Cleveland Foundation again, because we had completed their headquarters together,” says Laura Rees, Principal and Regional Quality Officer with Vocon. “We knew that this would be a great team, having worked with Rosanne and Lillian so deeply. Vic Barbalato had a relatively unique role working with us at Vocon at the beginning of the project, and then going to work for the Cleveland Foundation later.”

If we build it – who will come?
Potter recalls talking to different tenants about coming into the building, late in 2019 and into 2020. She explains that not only did the tenants have to comprehend the type of district they were trying to build, but each prospective tenant needed board approvals after determining the size space they would need.

Rees and the Vocon team mobilized in late 2021. They were still planning some of the site specifics before moving forward in 2022, when the serious work of design drawings began.

“We began coordinating the tenant designs at the beginning of the core and shell project, so the core and shell design evolved, as did the tenant designs,” says Erica Hillow, Vocon’s senior project manager for all tenant buildouts. The job of fitting her three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle fell to her as when the core and shell design was reconfigured, tenants had to adjust their plans.

Once every tenant’s satisfaction that they could all be accommodated and then Potter set about getting financing, a lease for each of them.

“Vic,” and Mandisa in particular, along with the design team spent significant time engaging with the community, which deeply informed the project,” explains Rees. “The creation of both active indoor and outdoor zones was intentional and critical. The design also thoughtfully connects to the Greenway and plans for its future expansion.”

Vocon purposefully designed the first floor to provide every tenant with direct outdoor access, making the building feel open and inviting. Public-facing spaces like the brewery are positioned along the landscaped, planned network of Greenway paths running behind and between buildings from East 63rd to East 69th streets.

Barbalato sees the Greenway as the most important part of the “district going forward.”

“It was important to us to not turn the building’s back to the neighborhood,” says Mandisa Gossa, Vocon’s Senior Project Designer, “but to open itself up to the community, and welcome them in with open arms.”

Even the ACM panels above the door on East 66th Street mimic the curves of someone’s outstretched arms.

“The foundation really likes to design four-sided buildings,” stresses Barbalato. “Every side is important. That shows how we’re constantly thinking about how we relate to every part of the context that we’re in. And inside, we use local artists all throughout the building to really tie the community back in.”

An exquisite, evocative mural was added to the north face of the building, facing the Greenway. The mural, entitled “More Than Everything,” was created by Hough resident Lamar Abner and Pam Spremulli.

Merritt Chase was another key ingredient in the success of this project, performing landscape design and even creating renderings of each month of the year, showcasing which plants would be in bloom.

Designing for aesthetics while maintaining a budget
“This was a super complex project with projects going on in parallel, which made it not just building out the core and shell, but the coordination with all the tenants to get what they wanted out of the space,” recalls Cleveland Foundation’s Michael Hood, Senior Manager of placemaking and community development. “It made this something unique, not the type of project that you encounter every day.”

Turner’s team of Brett Klinger,Pre-Construction Manager; Corey Wingerter, Lead Project Estimator; Laura Baker, MEP Project Estimator; and Tricia Gardner, Project Manager worked collaboratively during the core and shell estimating phase as well as early tenant improvement budgeting, making for a seamless transition to the tenant team,” recalls Amber Massaro, Turner’s Special Projects Division (SPD) Manager. “By July of 2023, our group was beginning to do estimates for the tenant buildouts.”

The initial estimates exceeded the budget, giving Massaro the opportunity to engage directly with tenants to explore creative solutions. She came prepared with thoughtful suggestions, helping guide each team through necessary adjustments.

“Everyone understood that some compromises were needed to keep the project on track,” she says. “It became a collaborative effort to balance vision with value.”

The building’s multiple functions and interconnected spaces required extensive collaboration between the team, the city and the fire department to coordinate fire alarm systems, egress routes and safety protocols. Some design adjustments were needed along the way as different elements were finalized, but everything came together successfully in the end.

“Coordination with city officials was absolutely critical,” says Gardner. “With 14 different building permits required, it was essential to involve them early to keep the process moving smoothly.”

Picking an exterior
Probably the biggest decision made early on was selecting terra cotta for almost the entire exterior. They chose terra cotta for the entire building envelope to create an elegant exterior that reflects the natural aspects of the design. The innovative tile system uses a single asymmetric panel that gets flipped in different orientations, vertically or horizontally, creating no three panels ever repeating with no two “exactly alike,” as Barbalato explains. This creates a rhythmic façade that speaks to the community’s jazz music history through improvisation while maintaining a clear, simple structure.

Rees adds that “terra cotta relates to the materiality in the world around it and the historical nature of the district, and the widespread use of masonry products in the surrounding buildings.”

The product specified for the project was the TerraCotta Rain Screen Panel System from Brad Valley Terra Cotta. The panels are clipped to supporting rail system, ensuring even spaces above and below each panel.

With an open-gap façade system, they had to carefully consider what was visible behind the façade material, not just the front surface. The entire building features continuous insulation with a black felt facing and black fiberglass supports, ensuring that only black is visible through the gaps. This attention to every layer of the façade prevents the common problem of unsightly colors showing through open gap systems that many other buildings suffer from.

“We used a composite system with the vapor barrier already applied to the panels,” says Tricia Gardner, Project Manager on the core and shell for Turner.

Breaking new (old) ground
Before construction could begin, Turner first demolished the former Stearn Building that previously occupied the site.

“What was nice was that we found a number of bronze plaques commemorating their former employees who were veterans,” recalls Gardner. “We were able to salvage those and remount them in the new building to preserve that history for the local community.”

While preparing the site, crews were surprised to discover the basement of another former building just south of the Stearn building – possibly an old RTA facility.

“It was a huge building,” relates Gardner, “going from 66th all the way to 65th.”

Crews spent months installing rammed earth piers to support the foundation. Barbalato recalls other large machines that were there for months, just pounding the ground to compact it.

The building’s skeleton was to be structural steel, but the determination was made early on to go with a SidePlate connection design, giving much more flexibility when it came to exterior design and window placement.

“The use of SidePlate was something that helped save the schedule because it was so fast to install,” adds Rees. “Without it, x-bracing would have been required, and the pattern of openings on the exterior of the building would have been impossible.”

“We were able to use drywall shafts for our elevators because we didn’t need a CMU shaft,” continues Barbalato, “so it really afforded us a lot of cost savings.”

A steel deck with TPO roofing capped off the flat roof design. Five large rooftop units provide HVAC for the entire building.

Looking around, it is noticeable that there are no pole-mounted electric lines on East 66th Street, which made another major challenge.

Internally, the electricity is split out for the food and beverage tenants, and then metered for all office tenants.

As space was tight for the food and beverage tenants, that entire space was modeled in 3D before construction started to ensure that everything would fit.

Taking the grand tour
Entering the building from East 66th Street, there’s a large lobby area with a reception desk and featuring a monumental yellow and white grand staircase to the second floor. Around the staircase are multiple seating configurations to foster conversation as people cross through the area.

A pair of 45-degree window walls protrude out to the sidewalk, enabling visitors to look up and down the length of “front porch,” the west side of East 66th Street. Referred to as the “front porch,” the west side of East 66th Street has a 20-foot-wide sidewalk, with tables and Adirondack chairs along with a double row of trees.

Going up or down the grand staircase, one can’t miss the triptych “Opus 3.20.27,” created by local artist Gina Washington. The three panels represent one prom dress worn by three generations, with luminous butterflies exploring legacy and transformation across time.

A large wayfinding signage system on two walls of the lobby identifies all the tenants and subtenants.

Passing by the sign, people enter the spacious Innovation Hall area. Here, tenants and community groups have access to the common area, featuring conversation group seating, as well as a host of private meeting and Zoom rooms available through a reservation app. There’s even a good-sized kitchenette available to all.

Larger rooms, including a 100-person multipurpose room that is subdividable, enable even larger meetings for stakeholders and board meetings. Two giant murals by Bruno Casiano grace the north and south feature walls.

Mandisa Gosa collaborated with the Cleveland Foundation and stakeholders to furnish and equip the Innovation Hall area, ensuring that each had the type of space needed for their typical meetings, and thus eliminating the need to build conference rooms in each of their tenant areas

Exploring tenant spaces
Tenant spaces are situated across all three floors, starting with several at ground level:

University Hospitals Diabetes Center

Directly across from the bus stop on the Health Line, the center hosts Diabetes Wellness Retreats and a variety of community health events, promoting education, support and improving health outcomes, the UH Diabetes Center at Midtown provides a trusted specialized care for individuals seeking prevention and wellness programs.

Hyland Software – Suite 100 –

Where Hyland used to bus students from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to its Westlake campus to learn software careers, the same students will now be able to take classes in this convenient, large classroom.

Assembly for the Arts – Suite 110

Assembly of the Arts is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit focused on advocacy, marketing, policy, racial equity research and cultural arts services that support Cleveland’s and to “expand industries with a mission and services that prioritize and increase equity. The organization is governed by a diverse volunteer board where almost 70% are women and nearly 60% are BIPOC. Assembly for Arts in partnership with Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and the residents of the Cleveland Arts Prize and the Cleveland Art Education Consortium.

Taproom Dining Room

 “This space was designed and programmed through community engagement,” explains Hood. “The community said they wanted a place to get a beer, get a bite to eat and see live music. The music venue has been supported by a generous contribution from a donor to provide free music to the community on a regular basis.”

In the northeast corner of the building, the exterior walls are clipped leaving approximately a 45-degree angle covered patio outside the roll-up glass garage doors. Further seating for overflow events is available on a grassy berm part of the planned Greenway north of the building.

The Sixty6 Music Lounge and Studio-

This area sets the stage for small bands and solo artists to entertain those enjoying a meal and a beer. A self-service recording studio allows individual neighborhood talent to come in and self-record themselves performing. As a benefit to groups who perform in the evenings, upon completion, each is presented with a video of their performance, which they can add to their YouTube collection. Being such an intimate venue, it also allows the audience to chat with the performers as they set up or tear down after their set.

Pearl’s Kitchen

At Pearl’s Kitchen, Chef/Owner Tiwanna Scott-Williams serves a great variety of her “inspired comfort food,” as well as catering events. You may have enjoyed her selections at the Quick’n Black Frog Brewery, the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Black Frog Brewery

Black Frog isn’t just a bar; it’s a full-blown brewery where owner Chris Harris serves his own crafted beers along with a wine selection. Behind the bar, six tall fermenters can crank out 330 gallons each.

Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA)

Also located on the first floor is the amazing $13 million Interactive Media Lab (IML) where real production technology, extended reality (XR) stage using virtual people and objects can be filmed against a 36-foot LED back wall and a 26-foot triangular floor with seamless, realistic results. Many sophisticated, more old-fashioned green screens are than

On the second floor are more tenant spaces, which includes further accommodations for Cleveland Institute of Art.

Cleveland Institute of Art – Suite 210

In addition to the IML downstairs, students will benefit from 3D prototyping labs, recording studios, editing rooms and interactive checkout for all types of equipment, media projects.

Media Gallery has a window wall overlooking the grand staircase that can be electronically switched from clear to frosted to display projected images.

With a 99-year lease, CIA considers this a valuable addition to its curriculum, brought to fruition by many of its former alumni.

Jumpstart – Suite 200

Originally a division of the Cleveland Foundation, Jumpstart moved into 17,000 square feet in the second floor. With a distinguished history of grant-making of the Cleveland area, they played a pivotal role in identifying and securing tenants for MidTown Collaboration Center, and now serve as administrators of the building as well. Before the building even began construction, more than 90% of the space was leased. Only 8,300 square feet remain to be leased, and there are prospects already in line. Jumpstart also has two sub-tenants, including LISC and the O.H.I.O. Fund.

Lastly are tenant spaces along the building’s third floor:

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) – Suite 300

Classes were split over about seven different locations, and Case Western Reserve University purposely put all of them together here, so that they could be in the heart of the community with enough space for students to be educated in the areas that they would affect. Specialties include a Public Health master’s program and coursework focusing on population and community health, research for healthy neighborhoods, environmental health, and cancer center community outreach, among others.

 ECDI & Women’s Business Center – Suite 310

Focused on empowering women entrepreneurs to create sustainable businesses, ECDI and Women’s Business Center provide training, coaching and access to capital. They provide support to small businesses who wish to start up, to stay up and to finally scale up. With five Ohio locations, ECDI is the nation’s number-one microlender.

Meeting + exceeding expectations
“We see our role as the shepard of making sure that these properties are developed in a strategic way that will meet the needs of the community, so it can grow, thrive and flourish for all Clevelanders” concludes Potter. “We did use New Markets Tax Credits on this job, and we’re proud to say that for this building alone, over 43 new jobs have been created in the building, in addition to about 180 that transferred over to it.

Our next project will probably be a 600-car garage with a solar canopy and an event space with some retail on the first floor, just west of our new parking lot. At that point, we expect that market-rate development can come in to help with the rest of it.

“You can feel the difference already,” adds Kuri, “as we strive to create a public realm with Dunham’s park and the Greenway. We also want to build the energy of East 66th Street, which goes north all the way to the Historic League Park.”

Building on that thought, Barbalato provides some empirical evidence: “Leaving our garage yesterday, and pulling onto East 66th, I saw the terrace and it was packed with people swaying to music. It was amazing. It’s everything we hoped for — coming to fruition.”