A study has pinpointed more than 7,000 land parcels around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport that could be stitched into a rich mosaic of businesses, recreation and housing.
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View full sizeThe control tower sits in the background of the main terminal at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Urban planners have pinpointed more than 7,000 land parcels around Cleveland Hopkins International Airport that could be stitched into a rich mosaic of businesses, recreation and housing.
The Cleveland area could develop an aerotropolis -- a dense zone of commerce -- around Hopkins, Cleveland State University researchers concluded in a 144-page feasibility report released Monday. Some of the world's most vibrant airports already have such areas.
To build one in Cleveland, cities flanking the airport will have to collaborate on economic development. And projects may need a kick-start from tax abatement and other incentives, said co-authors Claudette Robey and Kevin O'Brien of the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State.
A detailed examination of about 94,000 acres in the study area found 7,117 parcels that could be developed because the land is vacant, in a land bank, tax-delinquent or foreclosed property, or residential property selling at greatly reduced prices.
The study looked at six U.S. airports with an emerging aerotropolis -- Detroit, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, Ontario (Calif.), Memphis and the Piedmont-Triad Airport near Winston-Salem, N.C. They examined another 12 airports that had characteristics comparable to Hopkins.
All of the airports except Milwaukee had one overarching feature -- the ability to collaborate on planning and marketing airport-related economic development across jurisdictions.
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View full sizeResearchers looking at whether Cleveland Hopkins International Airport could be the nucleus for a commerce-rich "aerotropolis" identified more than 7,000 parcels of land bigger than 5 acres that could be developed around the airport. The property is in land banks, foreclosure, tax delinquency or for some other reason is open to new use."A collective vision for (Cleveland Hopkins) is essential, one that includes a well-planned, synchronized economic development strategy," the authors said.
The six airports with an emerging aerotropolis shared several other features. They made a choice to include the airport in their development plans and they used business retention devices like tax credits and tax abatement, or airport bonds to finance development.
One of the most advanced efforts to create an aerotropolis is happening 170 miles from Cleveland. The Detroit hub for Delta Air Lines is leveraging its flights, primarily to the Pacific Rim, as a way to help the local economy.
"They feel the airport could be the one pivotal asset that southeast Michigan has to diversify and strengthen its economy," said University of North Carolina business professor John Kasarda, who coined the word aerotropolis.
The Cleveland researchers identified possible industries that could be targeted for Hopkins: manufacturing, professional scientific and technical services, corporate headquarters, back office and call center operations, and transportation and warehouse companies.
Kasarda says thriving cities are now built around airports, rather than airports cropping up next to cities.
Kasarda calls airports the Main Streets of our global economy. Large jets connect people and cargo worldwide, carrying products that may have parts that come from six countries, are assembled in a seventh and sold in an eighth.
"For every iPad order placed in the U.S., a real 747 has to fly it here," Kasarda said in a teleconference call last week. "In short, business remains a contact sport."
Airport-based global cities include some of the wealthiest, most booming locations in the world: Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong. But a scattering of U.S. cities also are creating a rich necklace of commerce around their airports.
The community that's grown up around Dallas Fort Worth International Airport -- called the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex -- has 6 million people and is the fastest-growing city in the U.S., according to a March report in Time magazine. The article named the aerotropolis one of 10 ideas that will change the world.
Robey and O'Brien were hired under a $63,000 contract by Berea, Brook Park, Cleveland, Olmsted Falls and Parma, and the airport, to explore whether Hopkins and surrounding cities can be a catalyst for a Northeast Ohio aerotropolis.
Robey said retaining Hopkins as a hub for the merged Continental and United airlines is one of the "challenges" a would-be aerotropolis faces. Hopkins also needs to reorganize and expand its freight and cargo facilities, and improve infrastructure, including truck lanes feeding the airport.
"None of those prohibit us moving forward," she said.
Dennis Burnside, who manages the Cleveland office of Mohr Partners, an international site selection firm, stopped short of saying hub status is an aerotropolis must.
"Could we do it without it? Yes. But it would be much more difficult," he said.
So how can the study's abstract ideas become concrete?
The researchers said that should start with establishing the collaborative group that will carry the aerotropolis torch. Those members could then pick a geographic area for a pilot project. Then, they could plan how to aggregate land for clustering businesses.
Cleveland and airport officials said Monday they are studying the report, submitted by the researchers in August. Cleveland State posted the findings on its web site after a public records request by the Plain Dealer.
At the Berea Economic Development Corporation, Executive Director Rebecca Corrigan is eager to get going.
"It's time for Northeast Ohio to jump out of the box. Not think out of the box," she said. "Jump."