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Cleveland Development Thread

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To add to the S-W info, here is a post from NEO-Trans Blogspot:

Sherwin-Williams' new HQ+R&D = 6,000 jobs for downtown Cleveland

Sherwin-Williams' (SHW) top executives are urging department heads to consolidate as many activities and jobs as possible from around the world into its new headquarters and research facilities.

The end result of that directive is that SHW's global headquarters plus research and development (HQ+R&D) center could add 2,500 jobs, bringing the total for the entire campus to 6,000 employees, according to sources who spoke off the record and provided internal company data.

As reported here at NEOtrans in recent days and weeks, SHW plans to build its HQ+R&D on the west side of Public Square in downtown Cleveland. SHW has begun the process of buying 6.77 acres of land currently owned by the Jacobs and Weston groups. Barring a startling change of direction, it means downtown Cleveland will be the beneficiary of thousands of new and relocated jobs.

SHW already has about 3,500 jobs downtown, spread among SHW's HQ at 101 W. Prospect Ave., the neighboring Skylight Office Tower, and the John G. Breen Technology Center, 601 Canal Rd.

The job projections are coming into focus as SHW's facility programming rapidly progresses. Programming is an early phase of the building planning process. For office buildings, departmental managers are queried about their current and projected staffing, space needs and patterns of use for the coming years.



From those numbers, architects begin to assemble blocks of space to be shaped and molded according to a variety of factors, ranging from the available land to the personal preferences of C-suite executives.

That process is well underway for SHW and its architect Vocon Partners LLC which is designing the coatings giant's new global HQ+R&D facilities downtown.

The additional jobs for downtown Cleveland are based on the departmental feedback SHW executives and Vocon architects received by their deadline last week.

Five years ago, SHW outgrew its HQ of the last 89 years. So SHW has spread its Cuyahoga County workforce among a half-dozen facilities. Plus there are hundreds of jobs in other cities that SHW reportedly would like to have at its HQ but can't due to lack of space.

In Cuyahoga County, in addition to the SHW jobs downtown, the Fortune 500 company also has more than 250 employees at a 151,830-square-foot office/flex space located at 4770-4780 Hinckley Industrial Parkway in Cleveland.

It also has several hundred employees at its 388,766-square-foot Automotive Finishes Corp. global headquarters, research and development facility and training center, located at 4440 Warrensville Center Rd., Warrensville Hts. About 100 employees are office workers and might move downtown.

The office employment doesn't tell the full story either, because part of the spatial needs involves employees visiting from offices, laboratories and stores located around the world for training.

SHW's HQ will have a lot more of those visitors, especially as training of vice presidents, salespeople, information technology, human resources and other on-the-job development will all be consolidated downtown, sources said.

There is a lot to consolidate. SHW rents offices and classroom spaces at Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland's University Circle area for training activities.

SHW's new training center will also be downtown, likely resulting in the reduction of activities at its 24,150-square-foot Strongsville Training Center, 11350 Alameda Dr. where as many as 300 employees are based. A model store and small training staff will likely remain.



According to data acquired by NEOtrans, the number of people visiting SHW's seminars and three-day-long training classes would fill more than 100 hotel rooms every weeknight for an entire year. And that number will grow as SHW grows.

Currently, most visitors stay in hotels off Interstate 71 in Middleburg Heights. Those hotel occupants will follow the training center downtown. By staying at downtown hotels, more trainees might be encouraged to stay an extra night to attend a sporting event, enjoy a Playhouse Square show or visit a museum or two.

Another activity to be consolidated downtown is research. The 140,293-square-foot Breen Center is so cramped that it could not accept any of Valspar's R&D workers from Minneapolis after SHW acquired its northern rival in 2017.



Valspar's 170,000-square-foot facility is equally cramped. It has roughly 400 workers, meaning that both facilities have 425 square feet of space per research worker. According to sources, the new R&D facility in downtown Cleveland will measure 350,000 square feet, or about 500 square feet per research worker.

The office component for SHW's HQ is estimated at 1.45 million square feet, sources say. The projected total cost of SHW's HQ+R&D facilities could be upwards of $1 billion.

SHW's efforts took a substantive step forward on Oct. 8 when it and Welty Building Co., SHW's facilities consultant, chose Gilbane Building Co. as its construction management firm for the new HQ+R&D.

Those HQ+R&D facilities are slated to be built on 6.77 acres of land owned by the Jacobs Group and the Weston Group to the west of downtown Cleveland's Public Square. SHW continues to advance its due diligence on those properties. They have been used as parking lots for decades.

The due diligence includes contracting out for geotechnical surveying of soil samples in recent weeks. Surveying work began in the 5.6 acres of Weston lots Nov. 2 and continued for several days.


During the week of Nov. 11, survey crews moved over to the Jacobs lot where they drilled wells to monitor groundwater for an extended period of time and/or possibly to remove it prior to excavation for the foundations of a headquarters tower.

Five years ago, SHW hired AECOM to conduct geotechnical surveys of the Jacobs lot when it considered building a 1-million-square-foot headquarters here. SHW already knows a lot about the soil conditions far below the Jacobs lot.

Plans for the HQ tower were shelved in 2016 when SHW turned its resources toward acquiring Valspar. SHW's growth accelerated after acquiring Valspar, making the new HQ+R&D an even more critical need.

SHW's due diligence advanced further last week. NEOtrans was advised days in advance by a source that SHW would begin filing Certificates of Disclosure with the city of Cleveland. Such certificates are submitted by persons or corporations seeking to buy land. The filings serve as requests to the city for disclosures about the properties' histories.

Sure enough, starting on Nov. 15, a title company began filing Certificates of Disclosure with the city for parcels in the Weston lots. The filings provided a public corroboration of high-level sources who said SHW came to the conclusion that the Jacobs and Weston lots were the best location for its HQ+R&D after considering a dozen alternatives in Greater Cleveland.

No sites outside of Greater Cleveland were pursued by SHW and Welty, the sources said. In fact, SHW/Welty approached only one property owner outside of downtown Cleveland -- the DiGeronimo Co. which owns the former VA Hospital site in Brecksville. Even then, SHW considered it only for the R&D facility, not the HQ.

NEOtrans began reporting on SHW's pursuit of a new HQ+R&D facility on Oct. 31, 2018, more than ten months before SHW finally acknowledged it publicly. SHW announced it was pursuing a new HQ+R&D on Sept. 12.

Two city sources said SHW may announce the site for its new HQ+R&D facilities as early as next month.

END
 
Looking like Cleveland is losing the Sherwin Williams R&D to Brecksville. Fuck them. Consolidated new headquarters will be staying though. Developing those parking craters off of public square at least.
 
Looking like Cleveland is losing the Sherwin Williams R&D to Brecksville. Fuck them. Consolidated new headquarters will be staying though. Developing those parking craters off of public square at least.
Cleveland kind of screwed the pooch decades ago by not incorporating like the greater Indianapolis area did. Too late now, although I still think the far west suberbs could do it and avoid a later fall. They won't though, and the affluent flight will just continue outward until it hits northern Columbus.
 
Cleveland kind of screwed the pooch decades ago by not incorporating like the greater Indianapolis area did. Too late now, although I still think the far west suberbs could do it and avoid a later fall. They won't though, and the affluent flight will just continue outward until it hits northern Columbus.
I mean, it seems like the sprawl trend is ending. New HQ staying, rumors of a couple growing suburb companies moving their HQs to downtown, new residential towers with more in the works.
 
Looking like Cleveland is losing the Sherwin Williams R&D to Brecksville. Fuck them. Consolidated new headquarters will be staying though. Developing those parking craters off of public square at least.
As a Brecksville native and resident, I'm not mad about it :chuckle:
 
As a Brecksville native and resident, I'm not mad about it :chuckle:
Rumors of a growing mortgage company moving their HQ from Brecksville to Cleveland. So might not all be good news for you guys.
 
Cleveland kind of screwed the pooch decades ago by not incorporating like the greater Indianapolis area did.
Everything East of 271 should probably have been incorporated (imagine how much better Cleveland schools would be f they got property and business taxes from places like Shaker or Beachwood).

On the West, at the very least Lakewood should have been.
 
Looks like Greenhouse Tavern is going to close some time in the next week. Big loss for East 4th.
 
Everything East of 271 should probably have been incorporated (imagine how much better Cleveland schools would be f they got property and business taxes from places like Shaker or Beachwood).

On the West, at the very least Lakewood should have been.

Would this have benefited those cites? It seems like it would have hurt them and helped Cleveland.
 
Would this have benefited those cites? It seems like it would have hurt them and helped Cleveland.
Now, yes it'd be better for Cleveland and worse for the suburbs

Had they been incorporated years ago when Cleveland's manufacturing was stronger? Probably would've been more mutually beneficial.
 

I only post this because I used to drive by 55th every day. It's always busy but also not a great area. Hope this helps that area.
 

I only post this because I used to drive by 55th every day. It's always busy but also not a great area. Hope this helps that area.

Oh nice. Like it.

Looks like a place I'd love to live.

Love being on the water more than anything.
 

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