The Galleria at Erieview is a two floor
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
that opened in 1987 in
Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the east side of the city's
downtown. It is adjacent to the
Erieview Tower
The Erieview Tower (also known as the Tower at Erieview, 100 Erieview, or the Erieview Plaza Tower) is a skyscraper featuring elements of the International style located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The building has 40 stories, r ...
, a 40-story office building. The Galleria is a few blocks away from the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History
The concept for the Galleria began in 1985, when
Richard E. Jacobs, who had just bought the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
baseball team, also bought the Tower at Erieview, which had opened in 1964. Jacobs began planning to convert the plaza that lay in front of the tower into a shopping centre to serve the
Cleveland area. The result was the Galleria, a glass-enclosed mall, opened in late 1987. It was the first major retail venture in
Downtown Cleveland since the 1920s.
The Galleria, although sparked Cleveland's downtown revitalization in the 1990s, become empty due to lack of postivie perception and lack of a department store anchor. In 2005, the mall had only 36 tenants out of a possible 66.
In 2003, The Galleria and Tower at Erieview was purchased by
Werner Minshall Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Raid ...
, who proposed closing the mall and converting it into a
convention centre
A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
. When this failed, Minshall filled the mall with local tenants. Development was slow, but a few area businesses purchased retail space, and several area vendors set up stands during the week and began selling goods.
The Galleria was noted for the business "Gardens under Glass", an urban farm beneath the mall's atrium, but closed in 2013.
The Parker Hannifin Downtown YMCA moved in to occupy a considerable portion of the Galleria and is now open.
In 2019, James Kassouf and a group of investors purchased the property for $17.7 million.
References
External links
Galleria home page
{{Shopping malls in Ohio
Buildings and structures in Cleveland
Shopping malls in Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Tourist attractions in Cleveland
Shopping malls established in 1987
Urban agriculture