Cleveland Ropes in Five Other TIFs to Downtown 'Shore to Core' to Buttress Finances for Bedrock Project

Construction began on the Cleveland Clinic Peak Performance Center, the first step in Bedrock’s massive Riverfront development, late last year. Credit: Bedrock

Cleveland really wants Bedrock to start building its gargantuan Riverfront project as soon as humanly possible.

Like, by 2027 at the latest.

Some developments on that front went down in the past week.

The first happened on Friday, when Cleveland’s City Planning Commission gave its thumbs-up to the final iteration of The Riverfront’s conceptual design. A plan that includes but is not limited to: eight mid-rise apartment towers, two office buildings, a community center, an entertainment complex, a 10-story hotel and the in-progress Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center, as well as a series of trails and bike lanes that link everything together.

But to do this properly, and ASAP, Cleveland City Council had to sign off on changes to a $1-billion benefits package and tax-increment financing deal made with Bedrock that would allow public improvements—roads fixed, sewer and water lines built—to begin with dollars from both the city and Bedrock.

Public infrastructure work has already begun to prep what used to be mostly parking lots into the bones of a livable district: rebuilding Canal Road, constructing a new bridge from Eagle Avenue to the Performance Center, creating a new kayak launch on the easternmost most edge of Collision Bend.

And not just to placate Bedrock. City Council pushed an amendment to the TIF agreement, as Council President Blaine Griffin explained to other council members at a Monday meeting of Council’s Finance, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, that allows the city to spend future TIF revenue on immediate infrastructure needs.

As Griffin argued to his colleagues on Monday, that’s so the promised fruits of a now-45-year agreement could be felt by neighborhoods earlier.

“Neighborhoods can’t wait that long,” Griffin said.

“We didn’t want the community in the neighborhoods to eat last,” he added. “Which is how the original TIF was set up.”

Council also agreed to other TIF movements to bolster the funding to the Bedrock Riverfront site — a move to shore up finances as an insurance policy in case the Riverfront TIF revenues don’t meet expectations.

To do that, Council agreed to direct extensions of other Cleveland-area TIFs—the Hilton and the Westin, the V.A., Steelyard Commons and Lower Euclid—into the the Shore-to-Core-to-Shore development area. Those TIFs were extended to 60 years in 2023, allowing them to help buttress the revenues of the Shore-to-Core, which in turn can help buttress the Riverfront project. After 2056, if the new Riverfront TIF doesn’t generate the promised $400 million to public infrastructure for the Bedrock project by itself, Cleveland can draw on the other five TIFs.

The community benefits agreement with Bedrock, which was signed as part of the $1-billion incentive package, requires the Detroit-based developer to put $25 million into various city projects at various milestones. At least $15 million will head into a neighborhood investment fund.

Bedrock’s now-approved plan for The Riverfront includes a neighborhood-worth of development: eight mid-rise apartment towers, two office buildings, a community center, an entertainment complex, a 10-story hotel and the in-progress Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center. And a series of trails and bike lanes that link everything together. Credit: City Planning Commission

But that’s the catch: to speed-up that upfront money from Bedrock, Bedrock must get shovels in the ground as early as possible. Money pooled by the city from taxes on The Riverfront that would’ve gone into the general fund will now, just as other TIFs, be used to back public infrastructure improvements.

Meaning, Griffin clarified to a somewhat confused Council, they must build.

“But we do know that in order for [Bedrock] to continue to accelerate the TIF appreciation,” he said, “they need to get the vertical development started.”

Billed by Bedrock and their architects as Ohio’s “largest transit-oriented neighborhood,” the new district will take roughly two decades, in three phases, to complete, officials said on Friday.

All of that makes sense when minding the behemoth of a plan. Bike lanes on four roadways—Huron, West Third, Eagle and a new boulevard. A half-moon outdoor amphitheater. A potential brand new station for the Cuyahoga Scenic Valley Railroad, or even a direct connection into Tower City Red Line Station inside. (If a deal can be made with CSX, the rail company that oversees the northern part of those tracks.)

Groundbreaking on any of those 12 towers approved in the plan might not arrive until the end of the decade. Architectural styling is open and malleable, members of MKSK told City Planning, as long as there’s activity on each building’s ground floor, and Clevelanders can get around The Riverfront in everything but a car.

An air of confidence followed many of the team’s comments to City Planning. That not only would The Riverfront be a gem on the Cuyahoga; it might be the gem to end all gems.

“We are creating a new district. And we really want to dig into what makes it really a vibrant place to move through but also linger in and enjoy those riverfront views,” Brian Meng, an architect at Bialosky who’s working with Bedrock, told the commission.

“From a Cleveland perspective, we don’t really necessarily have a lot of pleasant views on our river right now,” he added. “We’re hoping this will be a world-class experience. I mean, there hasn’t been one since 18-whatever?”

CPC President Lillian Kuri interjected.

“I wouldn’t say this is the only place along the river,” she said. “I think Flats East Bank would want to have a conversation with you about what you said. Same thing with Irishtown Bend.”

“Our job, our responsibility as a commission eventually is to hold accountable, not this team,” she added, “but everybody else along the way to make sure it connects.”

City Hall deferred to Bedrock for comment on the TIF agreement okayed on Monday. A spokesperson for Bedrock did not reply to an email from Scene in time for publication.

A City Hall official told Scene that public improvements to pave way for buildings should be wrapping up by early 2027.

Bedrock did confirm that plans for the Memorial Loop, a cycle track lining the south side of Ontario, will be intertwined with The Riverfront’s bike lanes. Plans for the Loop are to be finalized, the city said, this spring.