Completing Cleveland’s Civic Center Overlooking the River

• Along downtown’s eastern bluff of the Cuyahoga River, a new Convention Center at the River site would complete the development between the recently completed Carl B. Stokes United State Courthouse and the Gateway Sports Complex that has been attracting visitors to Jacobs Field and the Quicken Loans Arena since 1994.
  
  
• The Convention Center’s main entrance and registration lobby would be oriented facing southward toward the river and Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood.
  
  
• A drop-off area for buses, taxis, limousines and cars bringing visitors to the Convention Center using a new loop drive extending south of Huron Road between West 3rd and West 2nd streets.
  
  
• Access to public parking for the Tower City Center retail and commercial complex and the new Convention Center would be relocated from Huron Road to the west side of Ontario Street at Eagle Avenue across from Gateway Plaza.

Ballrooms and Meeting Rooms with a Valley View

• A secondary Convention Center entrance lobby and drop-off area for the ballrooms is proposed at Ontario Street and Huron Road, directly across from the main entrance to the Quicken Loans Arena.
  
  
• The ballroom and 60,000 square feet of meeting rooms at the Huron Road level would have spectacular views of the Cuyahoga River valley as ore freighters and other boats ply the river 100 feet below from Collision Bend to the Carter Road Lift Bridge.
  
  
• A second level of meeting rooms are proposed above the first and these upper meeting rooms could be connected directly to Tower City Center’s Skylight Concourse with an enclosed pedestrian walkway over Huron Road.
  
  
• Exhibit halls and loading docks for the entire Convention Center would be located at the uppermost level, approximately 140 feet above the Cuyahoga River.

Linking the Convention Center with Tower City Center and the World

• By extending the pedestrian areas serving Tower City Center’s shops and restaurants, the Convention Center at the River site would be an easy internal walk to Gateway’s Quicken Loans Arena for sporting and entertainment events and existing hotel rooms available at the Ritz Carlton and the Renaissance hotels.
  
  
• Rapid transit rail service from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) Tower City station could provide door-to-door service between a Convention Center visitor and home without having to go outside.
  
  
• Today, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center are a short ride from a proposed Convention Center on the river by taking GCRTA Waterfront Line through the Flats to North Coast Harbor. Once construction is complete in a few years on the Euclid Corridor’s Silver Line, convention center goers only have to step onto Public Square to catch GCRTA bus rapid transit service for a quick trip to the museums and institutions of University Circle.
  
  
• A scenic trip through the Cuyahoga River Valley to Akron and beyond could be available to convention goers and Clevelanders alike with the extension of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and the Towpath Trail multi-purpose walkway to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
  
  
  
  
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