The Avenue at Tower City Center - Cleveland, Ohio - DSC08010

Tower City Center is a large mixed-use facility in

Downtown Cleveland Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, on its

Public Square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

. The facility is composed of a number of interconnected office buildings, including

Terminal Tower Terminal Tower is a 52-story, , landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, it was the second-tallest building in the world when it was com ...

, the Avenue shopping mall, Jack Cleveland Casino, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel,

Chase Financial Plaza The Chase Financial Plaza is a 1991-built 14 story 165 foot high rise office building on the Tower City Center property of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The postmodern building was erected in 1991 when Forest City Enterprises sought to improve the ...

, and

Tower City station Tower City station, known alternatively as Tower City–Public Square and Tower City Center is a rapid transit station in Cleveland, Ohio, part of Tower City Center. It is the central station on the RTA Red Line and a major station on the RTA G ...

, the main hub of Cleveland's four RTA Rapid Transit lines. The structure was built in 1929 as Cleveland Union Terminal. On March 17, 1976, the complex was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

Rail terminal

The building complex was originally commissioned by the Van Sweringen brothers, prominent local railroad moguls and real estate developers. The center of the complex was Cleveland Union Terminal (CUT), a

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devi ...

for all trains coming into Cleveland via the various railroad lines in a concept similar to

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. When Cleveland Union Terminal was built, the train station allocated the northern set of tracks for

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...

service and the southern set of tracks for

inter-city rail Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...

service. The portion of the station above the interurban tracks was called the Traction Concourse and the portion above the intercity train tracks was called the Steam Concourse. The Van Sweringen brothers envisioned a network of interurban lines extending from the CUT in all directions. They even acquired

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

for some of the lines. The complex was designed by the firm of

Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W) was a Chicago architectural firm that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through Daniel Burnham's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham, and Burnh ...

. Site preparation began in 1922, and approximately 2,200 buildings were demolished. Construction began in 1926, and structural work was completed by 1927. At the time, it was the second-largest excavation project in the world after the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

. The Terminal Tower opened to its first tenants in 1928. From its completion until 1964, the Terminal Tower was the tallest building in North America outside of New York City. Three other office buildings, the Medical Arts Building, Builders Exchange Building, and Midland Building, were built in addition to the Terminal Tower. The three

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

buildings are collectively known as the Landmark Office Towers Complex and were completed in 1929. In addition to the new buildings, the 1918 Hotel Cleveland was connected to the complex. Cleveland Union Terminal was dedicated and officially opened in 1930. The facility included a number of retail stores and restaurants. Original designs for the complex show that at first the brothers did not plan on building an office tower within the complex. However, they eventually decided to build the 52-story

on the northeast side of the complex facing

. In 1931, the Higbee Company moved its main store to a new building connected to Cleveland Union Terminal. In 1934, the U.S. Postal Service moved its main Cleveland office to Union Terminal in a new building designed by the firm of Walker and Weeks. It was known as M.K. Ferguson Plaza under the ownership of Forest City Enterprises. The Union Terminal served most rail lines: the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

and

Nickel Plate Road The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York, Pennsylv ...

. Exceptions were the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

and initially the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake ...

Notable trains, particularly for their destinations included: *Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: **'' Cleveland Night Express'' (Cleveland–Pittsburgh–Baltimore) **'' Washingtonian'' (Cleveland–Pittsburgh–Baltimore) *Erie Railroad, with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad: **''Steel King'' (Cleveland–Pittsburgh, with morning and evening variations) *New York Central Railroad: **''Chicagoan'' (Chicago–New York) **'' Cincinnati Mercury'' (Cincinnati–Cleveland) (beginning in fall, 1951) **'' Cleveland Mercury'' (Detroit–Cleveland) **''

Empire State Express The ''Empire State Express'' was one of the named passenger trains and onetime flagship of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (a predecessor of the later New York Central Railroad). On September 14, 1891, it covered the 436 miles ...

'' (Cleveland–New York) **''Fifth Avenue Special'' (Chicago–Cleveland-New York) **''Iroquois'' (Boston–Chicago; in most years operating westbound only; in some years terminating in Cleveland, in some years having New York as the eastern terminus) **''

North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

'' (New York–Cleveland; in most years operating westbound only) **'' Ohio State Limited'' (Cincinnati–Cleveland–New York; in some years stopping for east-bound trips only, in other years running through the city without stopping) **''Pacemaker'' (Chicago–Cleveland–New York; in some years stopping for east-bound trips only; in latter years: Cleveland–New York) **'' Southwestern Limited'' (St. Louis–Indianapolis–Cleveland–New York) *Nickel Plate Road ( Norfolk and Western in final year of service): **''

Nickel Plate Limited The ''Nickel Plate Limited'', later known as the ''City of Cleveland'' and ''City of Chicago'', was a passenger night train operated by the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate) between Chicago and Buffalo, New York via Clevel ...

'' (Chicago–Buffalo) ater named ''City of Chicago'' westbound/''City of Cleveland'' eastbound**''Blue Arrow'' (Cleveland–St. Louis)/''Blue Dart'' (St. Louis–Cleveland) However, the station was never particularly popular with the railroads. It required deviating from the quicker route along

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

. As the city would not allow trains to operate under steam power near the downtown area, trains were forced to switch from steam to electric power at a suburban

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...

when heading inbound and then reverse on the way out at another yard. As a result, some lines began to bypass the station entirely, heading along the lake route, and some trains stopped serving the city altogether (examples of the latter case: the New York Central Railroad's ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an overnight Amtrak intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two sections east of Albany. The train began service in 1975; its predecessor was Amtrak's Chicago– ...

'' and the '' New England States''). Several east–west routes on the circuit of trains bound east from Chicago through northern Ohio bypassed the city, traveling slightly to the south, passing through Akron and Youngstown, as in the case of B&O and Erie mainlines. In addition, national passenger rail travel had already passed its peak and was starting its gradual decline in favor of the automobile and, later, the airplane. The Erie Railroad, owned by the Van Sweringens, could not afford the electric transfer and continued to use its own nearby station until 1948, when it replaced steam with diesel locomotives and was able to serve the Union Terminal under its own power. By the end of 1965, the B&O and the Norfolk and Western (the successor to the Nickel Plate) had terminated their last trains that had served Cleveland. By the end of 1967, the New York Central had discontinued all named trains that had run through Cleveland. All that remained as passenger trains were unnamed successors to trains #51 (westbound ''Empire State Express''), #90 (eastbound successor to the ''Chicagoan''), #27/28 (successor to the ''New England States'') and #63/#64 (Chicago–New York) trains. In the lead-up to the arrival of Amtrak, in 1970 the Erie Lackawanna ran an unnamed train to Youngstown. The

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

(successor to the New York Central) Chicago-bound trains stopping at the terminal included an unnamed remnant of the ''Empire State Express'' and another unnamed train. East-bound, there was an unnamed successor to the ''New England States,'' as well as two other unnamed trains. Southwest-bound there was an Indianapolis-destined remnant of the ''Southwestern Limited'' and an ''Ohio State Limited'' remnant bound for Columbus. Amtrak's short-lived '' Lake Shore'' served Union Terminal for seven months in 1971, but the railroad found the rents prohibitive. When the new ''

'' began in 1975, Amtrak chose to construct a new station near

adjacent to the

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway, often shortened to "the Shoreway", is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland and Bratenahl, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Brid ...

. The new Amtrak station is located near the former Cleveland Union Depot, once served by the

. The former Erie Railroad commuter service, ultimately inherited by

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do bus ...

, was discontinued on January 14, 1977, ending the facility's use as a railroad station. However, in 2021, a rail advocacy group by the name of All Aboard Ohio, voted in favor of returning Amtrak service to Union Terminal, in the anticipation of a proposed dramatic increase in rail service. File:C.U.T. Steam Concourse.jpg, Concourse in 1987 File:Terminaltower2.jpg, File:Tower City Concourse sign.jpg, File:C.U.T. Steam Concourse & Traction Concourse.jpg, File:Tower City parking decks.jpg, Platforms converted into parking decks

Shopping mall

Most of the platform area was demolished in the late 1980s renovation of the building. The station area itself was converted by Forest City Enterprises into a three-story, 367,000 square foot shopping mall and food court known as The Avenue, which opened on March 26, 1990. As part of the renovation, RTA rebuilt its rapid transit station beneath the center. The rest of the platform area was turned into a parking garage for the new complex. When the already renamed Tower City Center reopened, the mall housed many high-end

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

s, including Bally of Switzerland,

Barneys New York Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys ...

Fendi Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. ...

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragranc ...

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as ...

, and even had a letter of intent from

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

to build a 120,000-square foot anchor store in 1992. Over the following 25 years, many of those shops were replaced by more-modest stores, some of them local retailers. In 1991, two new 11-story office towers, the

Skylight Office Tower The Skylight Office Tower is a 1991-built 12 story 165 foot high-rise office building on the property of Tower City Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Like its closely resembled (though not perfect matching) sister building ( Chase Financial Pl ...

and the

, were added. The Chase Building houses Cleveland's Ritz-Carlton Hotel and The Skylight Office Tower housed the former

Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and r ...

. After the completion of the nearby Gateway project in 1994, RTA built an indoor walkway connecting Tower City to the complex. A second walkway was built in 2002 to connect Tower City with the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse. Higbee's (by then bought by

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

) closed its department store in the complex in January, 2002. Positively Cleveland (formerly the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland) and the Greater Cleveland Partnership (the local

chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...

) opened offices in the Higbee Building in 2007. Until late 2010, the Cleveland Plus Visitors Center occupied the first floor. The building was opened on May 14, 2012, as the

Horseshoe Casino Cleveland Jack Cleveland Casino (formerly Horseshoe Cleveland) is a casino in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, owned by Vici Properties and operated by Jack Entertainment. Casino Jack Cleveland Casino is located in the former Higbee Building at Tower City Center ...

. After Rock Gaming LLC took over management of the Horseshoe, the casino was transformed into Jack Cleveland Casino and reopened on May 11, 2016. In 2001,

Time Warner Cable Amphitheater The Time Warner Cable Amphitheater (formerly Tower City Amphitheater) was an outdoor concert venue and part of the mixed-use Tower City Center development in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The approximately 5,000-seat venue opened in 2001 and clo ...

opened as an outdoor stage along the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River ( , or ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so m ...

near the Tower City Complex. A site on the Cuyahoga River side of the complex was proposed as a location for a new Cleveland

convention center 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 ...

, but in January, 2009 the

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1 ...

Commissioners decided to redevelop the existing facility. In July, 2021 businessman

Dan Gilbert Daniel Gilbert (born January 17, 1962) is an American billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and majority owner of Rocket Mortgage, founder of Rock Ventures, and owner of the National Basketball Association' ...

's company Bedrock announced plans to convert the mall into a "retail marketplace" with a blend of retail and entertainment.

Former rapid transit stations

Former Red Line station

The Red Line took the place of a never-completed interurban line. An additional vault for that line was located at Mayfield Road, now the Little Italy–University Circle station.

History

The Shaker rapid transit remained the only service using the interurban portion of the CUT for 25 years. When the

Cleveland Transit System The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (officially the GCRTA, but historically and locally referred to as the RTA) is the public transit agency for Cleveland, Ohio, United States and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County. RTA is t ...

built its rapid transit (later designated the Red Line) in 1955 (using much of the right-of-way previously developed by the Van Sweringens), another rapid transit station was built in the former interurban area of the CUT to serve it. Since the CTS Rapid Transit (Red Line) and the Shaker rapid transit (Green and Blue Lines) were owned by different entities at the time, there was no fare transfer between the trains, and the stations were entirely separate. In 1968, the

line finished its extension through Cleveland's west side to

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is an international airport in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is the primary airport serving Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, the largest and busiest airport in the state, and the 43rd busiest ...

and Cleveland became the first North American city with direct

access from downtown to an airport. Both lines became part of the

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (officially the GCRTA, but historically and locally referred to as the RTA) is the public transit agency for Cleveland, Ohio, United States and the surrounding suburbs of Cuyahoga County. RTA is ...

when it assumed control on September 5, 1975. The two stations remained separate until December 17, 1990, when an entirely new station was completed with the development of Tower City Center. File:RTA Red Line Public Square Station Entrance.jpg, Main Red Line entrance in 1980s File:RTA Red Line Public Square Station Second Entrance.jpg, Secondary Red Line entrance in 1980s File:RTA Red Line Public Square Station Platform east.jpg, Red Line platform in 1980s looking east File:RTA Red Line platform.jpg, End of platform File:19680225 26 Cleveland Union Terminal.jpg, The entrance to the CTS station in 1968

Former Shaker Rapid station

These platforms opened with the extension of the

Cleveland Interurban Railroad RTA Rapid Transit (generally known as The Rapid) is a rapid transit, light rail, and bus rapid transit system. The system is owned and operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA). The system serves Cleveland and surro ...

from just east of the ramp at East 34th Street and Broadway in 1930.

History

Since the Van Sweringens owned Cleveland Interurban Railroad which served the suburb of

Shaker Heights Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cock ...

, the interurban portion of the CUT was immediately occupied by the Shaker trains upon completion on July 20, 1930. (Previously, the Shaker trains had used streetcar tracks to reach downtown from East 34th Street, which caused significantly slower service.) The Shaker rapid transit station was located along the northernmost tracks of the complex, and it included a small yard for the storage of a few trains and a loop to allow trains to reverse direction. Development of the other interurban services, however, was stalled by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, which hit the Van Sweringens particularly hard. By 1944, ownership of the Shaker rapid transit passed to the city of Shaker Heights. The Shaker and Van Aken lines became part of the

when it assumed control on September 5, 1975. The two stations remained separate until December 17, 1990, when a completely new station was completed with the development of Tower City Center. The platform was temporarily re-opened for westbound passengers in 2016 and 2020. File:Tower City Shaker platforms, December 2020.jpg, Stair and Elevator Access File:Tower City Shaker platforms, December 2020 (3).jpg, Platform signage File:Tower City Shaker platforms, December 2020 (4).jpg, Former Shaker platforms File:Tower City Shaker platforms, December 2020 (8).jpg, Platform view of turnstiles File:RTA Blue and Green Line Public Square Station Platform..jpg, Platforms in the 1980s

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Mall websiteCleveland Union Terminal Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tower City station 1930 establishments in Ohio Art Deco architecture in Ohio Beaux-Arts architecture in Ohio Buildings and structures in Cleveland Former railway stations in Ohio Forest City Realty Trust Hotels in Cleveland National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland, Ohio Railway stations in the United States opened in 1930 Shopping malls established in 1991 Shopping malls in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stations Former New York Central Railroad stations

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

Former New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad stations Tourist attractions in Cleveland Union stations in the United States Repurposed railway stations in the United States Former Amtrak stations in Ohio

History

Rail terminal

Shopping mall

Former rapid transit stations

Former Red Line station

History

Former Shaker Rapid station

History

See also

Connected components of Tower City Center

References

Sources

External links