The Cleveland Landmarks Commission held a public hearing about the building Thursday. Members of the Maloof family are considering redevelopment options for the building, but parking-lot owner Lou Frangos is lobbying for its demolition.
View full sizeThe Stanley Block building in downtown Cleveland.CLEVELAND -- Demolition of the Stanley Block building in downtown Cleveland would be a tragedy, a handful of speakers told the Cleveland Landmarks Commission on Thursday.
Commission members conducted a public hearing about the four-story building, on Ontario Street, after members of the ownership group and the Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corp. asked that it be considered a city landmark. That designation would add layers of scrutiny to any request to change or raze the building.
"It's our strong feeling that it would be a significant loss for downtown Cleveland to not have this building," said Marie-Rose Andriadi, chairwoman of the Historic Resources Committee at the Cleveland chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
She expressed concern about the possibility that the Stanley Block could be replaced with parking, to capture traffic from a casino scheduled to open across the street next year. The building is the subject of a tug-of-war between owners, with one shareholder group considering redevelopment and another pushing for demolition.
"In my mind, there's absolutely no question as to the historic significance of this building," said Peter Ketter, a preservation specialist with Sandvick Architects.
Ketter, who is studying rehabilitation prospects for the building, pointed to its stone facade, interior decorations and its fourth-floor ballroom - which hosted many social events and union meetings - as reasons to preserve the property.
The Landmarks Commission will vote on the designation at its March 10 meeting.
Built in the 1870s, the Stanley Block sits across an intersection from the Higbee building, where Rock Gaming and Caesars Entertainment Corp. plan to open a $350 million first-phase casino.
Companies tied to parking lot owner Lou Frangos have acquired an interest in the Stanley Block and bought up the rest of the block bounded by Prospect Avenue and Ontario, High and East Second streets.
In a letter to the commission, Frangos wrote that the Stanley Block is obsolete and should be razed. But the Maloof family, which has owned the building for decades, is looking at redevelopment possibilities. The family designated Tom Yablonsky, executive director of the Historic Gateway Neighborhood, to speak on their behalf Thursday. The neighborhood group's master plan calls for housing, hotels, retail or offices in that downtown block.
Frangos did not appear at the Landmarks Commission hearing. An attorney representing 2115-2121 Ontario Building LLC - one of Frangos' many companies - spoke at the meeting but did not address the future of the building and whether it deserves to be a city landmark.
The attorney, David Hales of Calfee, Halter & Griswold, said that no one can speak on behalf of the building's owners, because there is a deadlock between the shareholders.
In a letter sent to the commission, Frangos said that 2115-2121 Ontario Building LLC owns 50 percent of the shares in Macron Investment Co., which owns the Stanley Block. But members of the Maloof family, the other shareholders, say Frangos' company does not control the building.
Hales declined to comment further after the meeting.
Fate of downtown block uncertain
Companies tied to parking-lot magnate Lou Frangos own most of a block across from the first phase of a planned $350 million casino project. Now a Frangos company has acquired an interest in the owner of the Stanley Block, one of downtown's oldest buildings, and is pushing for demolition. The blue blocks on the map show the properties on the block; click on each for details. The red dot locates the site of the proposed phase one casino.
View Cleveland downtown block's fate uncertain in a larger map