Bio-medical, health care and technology start-ups often end-up in suburban office and industrial parks because they can't find suitable space in Cleveland's Health Tech Corridor
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View full sizeCleveland officials gave tours Monday of the new MidTown Tech Park on Euclid Ave., an effort to keep growing businesses from moving to the suburbs. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It has been said about many businesses over many decades: They start in Cleveland and then they head to 'burbs.
But if Cleveland has its way, this won't be true about the burgeoning health technology sector.
On Monday, city officials and the developers of the $21 million MidTown Tech Park showed off the building at 6700 Euclid Ave. The hope is that the 128,000-square-foot brick and glass building will not only attract businesses, but also discourage new companies from leaving Cleveland's incubators in search of space common in suburban office and industrial parks.
While start-ups in incubators usually have only a few employees, expanding businesses could generate hundreds of jobs, often higher-paying ones, expanding the city's tax base.
"This is an ideal project in this spot at this time," Mayor Frank Jackson said during a news conference.
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View full sizeThe city has labeled the area between East 55th and East 105 streets, bounded by Cedar and Chester avenues, as the Health-Tech Corridor.
The Health-Tech Corridor, connecting University Circle and the area comprising the campuses of Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community College, already contains what Tracey Nichols, Cleveland's economic development director, describes as "the basic building blocks" for what the city bills as a health technology cluster.
Those building blocks include University Circle's medical and academic institutions, 75 biomedical companies and 45 technology companies.
So far, only Jumpstart, a venture capital nonprofit, has signed on to lease 16,000 square feet in the building. One of the developers, Fred Geis, said he had "verbal commitments" to lease 42,000 more square-feet, but he wouldn't disclose details. Space rents for $14 per squre foot.
Geis is developing the property as a principal in the Hemingway Development Co. The company's other principals are his brother, Greg Geis, and Jim Doyle. Hemingway's partner in the venture is Terry Coyne.
Fred Geis said he is confident the building will be leased by the end of the year.
Nichols said the city hopes the building generates 300 jobs.
"We anticipate that most these will be newly created jobs," she said.
The developers put up about $2.9 million for the project. The rest was done with funding such as a $10.7 million Housing and Urban Development loan and a $3.5 million state grant that helped prepare the site for development.
Hemingway Development, a division of the Geis Cos. in Streetsboro also has plans to convert buildings at 7000 Euclid Ave. and another at East 55th Street and Carnegie Avenue for expanding health tech companies.
The cluster strategy is even giving hope to city officials who became concerned when the state dropped plans in February to move Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare from Sagamore Hills Township to a 14-acre site on Euclid Avenue. The city had spent $4.1 million, most of it city funds, preparing the site bounded by East 59th and 61st streets and Euclid and Chester avenues for the mental health hospital.
Now Nichols doesn't discount that it may one day house health-tech companies.
"We've already gotten inquiries," she said.