Archive: Plain Dealer: Tower City figures don't match

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Tower City figures don't match
City gets different result on cost of proposed convention center
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Sarah Hollander
Plain Dealer Reporter

Ancillary traffic improvements could boost the cost of a proposed convention center behind Tower City Center by $40 million according to Cleveland's Planning Commission.

In a letter to the Convention Facilities Authority, which will recommend a location and financing plan for a new center, Planning Director Robert Brown worries that a new center between the Cuyahoga River and Huron Road could further complicate an area already congested with traffic heading to and from Tower City, Gund Arena, Jacobs Field and Gateway.

The planning commission recommended that a traffic study be done as soon as possible. It could clarify which nearby streets, ramps and intersections would require widening or other modifications and how much public investment the changes might take, he wrote.

The riverfront site is one of two locations being considered. The other is the city-owned center on the public malls. The existing center would be renovated and expanded west- or northward.

The CFA hopes to make a recommendation by early next year.

Authority Chairman Bill Reidy said the group may discuss the city's request for a traffic study at its next meeting Dec. 13.

"First, we'd have to decide whether it's really necessary at this point," Reidy said. The group may pick a favorite and then dig for further details, he said.

"If something comes up that's a deal-breaker, then you go back to the drawing board," he said.

Forest City, which owns the riverfront site, touts the location's proximity to the Inner Belt, the Flats and public transportation.

In a recently completed comparison of the two sites, however, the city's planning commission cites upgrades that may be needed to maintain traffic flow around a riverfront center. For example:

Reconstructing the closed Eagle Avenue viaduct for truck and car traffic could cost $11.5 million. (Forest City estimates the cost at $7.5 million.)

Widening and reconstructing Canal Road could cost $10.1 million. (Forest City estimates $1.8 million.)

Improving interstate access to the West Third Street and Canal Road area could cost $14 million. (Forest City's estimates did not include this element.)

Accommodating additional traffic may require purchasing property on the west side of Ontario Street between Carnegie Avenue and Huron Road. (Cost estimates not available.)

William Voegele, regional director of development for Forest City Commercial Group, said the city's estimates are higher because they cover a larger area.

For example, the company's Eagle Avenue estimate includes money for access to a planned truck ramp leading to loading docks off the third-level exhibition hall, not the whole viaduct. And the Canal Road figure covers work under the proposed building, not a longer stretch.

According to the city's site comparison, the two proposals for the mall would not have a significant impact on downtown traffic.

Trucks would use the shoreway's port underpass at West Third Street to access loading docks via an existing service drive. And nearby lots are available for truck yards.

Cars and buses would drop visitors along Franz Pastorius Street in the western expansion option or a new access road, of undetermined cost, off East Ninth Street for the northern option.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

shollander@plaind.com, 216-999-4816