The office building, at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue, is set to lose major tenants in the next few years. Optima Ventures is linked to Optima International of Miami, a private, global operation that bought the 55 Public Square and One Cleveland Center office buildings in 2008.
Optima Ventures LLC is interested in buying the Huntington Building at Euclid Avenue and East Ninth Street.
Updated at 5:57 p.m.
CLEVELAND -- The out-of-state owner of 55 Public Square and One Cleveland Center might scoop up another downtown landmark -- the troubled Huntington Building, at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue.
Tenants in the 22-story office building recently received a memo indicating that Optima Ventures LLC is interested in the property. Public records link Optima Ventures to Optima International of Miami, the U.S. branch of a private, global operation with considerable interests in oil, gas, telecommunications and manufacturing in Eastern Europe.
In the memo, dated March 22, the property management company wrote that "we have recently been informed that the owner is engaged in substantive discussions regarding the potential sale of the Huntington Building and has, in fact, entered into a purchase agreement with Optima Ventures LLC."
The Huntington Building is set to lose major tenants, including Huntington National Bank, accounting firm Ernst & Young and law firm Tucker Ellis & West LLC, during the next several years. That exodus will leave a gaping hole at one of the center city's most prominent -- and most challenged -- intersections.
Huntington holds a master lease on the building, giving the bank control over 1.3 million square feet of downtown real estate. The master lease expires next year, and Huntington plans to leave behind its ornate banking lobby for more modern offices at the former BP Tower, now called 200 Public Square. Ernst & Young and Tucker Ellis have committed to new offices in the Flats East Bank development and hope to move in mid-2012. However, both tenants have lease extensions that would allow them to stay at Euclid and East Ninth for several years.
"It has no impact on our plans," Don Misheff, the Northeast Ohio managing partner for Ernst & Young, said of a potential sale. "There are no negative implications to the sale of the building, and our extensions would give us ample time to complete the East Bank project."
Small businesses and stores in the Huntington Building are unsure what to do as their leases expire. Tenants said they have heard rumors but have received little information beyond last week's memo. According to the memo, Optima representatives have "indicated their interest in speaking with existing tenants in lease-renewal discussions."
Property manager Michael Boeschenstein declined to comment. Building owner Carl Glickman, part of an investor group called Chester Union Associates Ltd., did not return a phone call.
The investors have been quiet about their plans for the building, which has few clear redevelopment prospects. Some developers and real estate brokers believe the structure would make more sense as an institutional or government building, or as a mixed-use project combining a hotel and residences with offices.
Chaim Schochet, an Optima investment executive, did not respond to a request for comment today. In previous interviews with the Plain Dealer, he has described Optima as a long-term investor attracted to Cleveland's stability.
In May 2008, Optima paid nearly $86.3 million for the chisel-shaped One Cleveland Center, at East Ninth Street and St. Clair Avenue. In July 2008, Optima bought the office building at 55 Public Square for $34 million.