JumpStart will move offices to Midtown, becoming first tenant in new tech building

The nonprofit has signed a 10-year lease on 9,500 square feet at the MidTown Tech Park, a $28 million project that is under construction at Euclid Avenue and East 69th Street. Developer Fred Geis and real estate broker Terry Coyne are pursuing several other tenants for the building.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A new office and research building in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood has snagged its first tenant -- JumpStart Inc., a nonprofit organization that cultivates, connects and funds entrepreneurs throughout the region.

JumpStart has signed a 10-year lease on 9,500 square feet at the MidTown Tech Park, a $28 million project that is under construction at Euclid Avenue and East 69th Street. It's a small deal in a big building -- more than 128,000 square feet between Euclid and Carnegie avenues. But it brings a key economic-development group into Cleveland's Health-Tech Corridor, an emerging district that runs from East 22nd Street to University Circle.

Developer Fred Geis expects to have JumpStart's space ready by May and to finish the rest of the building in June. He and real estate broker Terry Coyne, whose family has a stake in the project, are pursuing several other tenants that could occupy much of the building, a rare speculative development on the corridor.

JumpStart, which employs roughly 40 people, will leave its original offices in downtown Cleveland for new, larger digs in Midtown. Ray Leach, the group's chief executive officer, said free parking and ample meeting space were major factors in the decision. Plans for the MidTown Tech Park include more than 400 free parking spots and about 4,000 square feet of shared meeting space.

"We're going to miss being downtown," Leach said. "But when we weighed it all out, to be part of the reinvention of that neighborhood and the ability to get in and out of that space was a huge asset."

Modern, more flexible space will give JumpStart better opportunities to collaborate with other economic-development groups, he said. The nonprofit is reorganizing its staff, and Leach expects more full-time employees to become part-time workers during the next few years. Staff members from a handful of business incubators and other partner organizations could work out of JumpStart's new offices a few days a week.

Three venture funds that currently share space with JumpStart also will make the move.

"We worked very hard to get JumpStart because of the reputation that they have as being a good feeder for start-ups," Geis said.