Millennia Loses Bid to Keep Centennial Building From Auction Sale

Millennia’s efforts to keep control of one of Downtown’s largest vacant buildings looks to be dead.

On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected Millennia’s ask to extend for the second time a deadline to drum up a plan to pay the $41 million it owes on The Centennial at 925 Euclid Ave. The court appointed a receiver, John Lane, to oversee the building in January.

This summer that judge okayed an agreement for Millennia to lock down plans to repay its debts—from legal fees to county loans—and therefore allow it to continue its massive plan to rehab the building into apartments. That deadline was originally late July; it was extended to August 30.

But after two months, no firm plan has come together. , with no definite payment, meant zilch to the courts and U.S. Northern District of Ohio Judge Charles Fleming.

“The court has provided a 61-day period for defendants to exercise their right of redemption,” U.S. Northern District of Ohio Judge Charles Fleming wrote, according to court records on Tuesday.

“Furthermore, defendants have had nearly three and one half years to cure the default as to this property,” he said, “and have failed to do so.”

The denial once again sets back promises of righting The Centennial, a long-vacant behemoth in the center of Cleveland. Millennia Companies had been attempting to secure funds to bring the building to life since it purchased it in 2018.

A revival that hasn’t gotten easier with time. In 2024, the feds cut Millennia off from receiving money from the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development after reports of “deplorable conditions” in some of the properties it managed.

Water leakages have caused ceiling damage, a report in January found. The building has no dependable heat source or a suitable fire suppression system. All of its elevators are out of service (save for one freight elevator). About $400,000 had been spent this summer alone on maintenance, insurance and cleanup, a recent receiver’s report found.

Including added security. Urban explorers and vandals had broken into the Centennial, police records show, in the winter and spring, leading to smashed windows, broken doors and fire extinguisher exhaust damage. New lights and cameras were installed and another security guard was hired.

Whoever ends up taking over the building will have to tackle those issues head on. Court documents in July suggest 13 unnamed entities are ready to bid on the building once it heads to auction in late September.

None of those entities have been disclosed as of Tuesday, receiver John Lane told Scene. It’s possible that Millennia could act as the building’s stalking horse bidder, the name given to a typically unnamed party that kicks off the auction process, Lane said.

“Not all is lost for [Sinito],” he said. “I would welcome it if he would submit a stalking-horse bid.”

In an email statement, a representative of HH Cleveland Huntington, a subsidary of Millennia, told Scene they “respect the court’s decision” and plan to find another route of securing The Centennial.

Whether they would file an appeal, or submit a bid later this month, they didn’t say. But they did insist several times they would finish the redemption process by the end of September.

“We believe [this] remains the most effective paty to acheive full repayment for lienholders while preserving the opportunity to restore and redevelop one of Cleveland’s most iconic historic assets,” they wrote.

Originally, as plans from 2023 show, Millennia wanted to put 413 workforce apartments and a full-service hotel in the century-year-old bank building, turn its vault into a speakeasy and its lobby into a Marble Room-styled restaurant and a museum for vintage cars.

Time will only tell if that will actually happen.