The Centennial Project Likely Stalled as Millennia Faces Major Rebuke From Feds

The fate of The Centennial project, a massive rehabilitation of the 925 Building off Euclid Avenue and East 9th St., continues to remain murky as owner Millennia faces a major federal funding cutoff.

This week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development barred the Centennial owner from all types of federal funding for the next five years, a reprimand in response to years of management negligence, from reports of roach infestations to fatal explosions at some of its properties.

“We are committed to ensuring that people living in HUD-assisted housing have safe, decent homes and that our property owners manage assets responsibly in accordance with our rules,” Ethan Handelman, a secretary for multifamily housing programs at HUD, said in a statement to Cleveland.com on Monday.

“As a result, HUD is holding them accountable by demanding repayment of misappropriated funds," he added, "and seeking to impose civil money penalties on those responsible.”

That repayment, and the cut off from future HUD dollars, comes as Millennia faces a major shift with its business scope and focus after years of controversy, including a $860 million lawsuit and the company's largest layoff, of 30 employees, back in November. Its current HUD issues comes as the Cleveland-based property group has committed to "a reinvestment in its Northeast Ohio holdings."

But what with The Centennial?

With interior construction slated to start around the same time Millennia laid off those 30 employees, CEO Frank Sinito told Crain's Cleveland Business that the Centennial's debt would be refinanced by January. Sinito's team also submitted the building to be considered for the county's next iteration of the Justice Center.

"We're dual-tracking the project," he told Crain's. As for pursuing any housing that could involve HUD—like the kind that got Millennia in dire straits—Sinito was a lot more wary. "I don't see us taking on challenging projects in the future," he said.

At a $476 million to half-billion-dollar price tag, The Centennial project has long been considered by those in the downtown real estate sphere as a Cleveland development white whale.

Last April, former vice president Tom Mignogna spoke optimistically about the project, suggesting the company was close to breaking ground on its 177 market-rate and 413 "workforce" apartments. Plans also included a Marble Room-esque restaurant in the building's basement bank vault, and a 170-room Curio Hotel by Hilton, as Scene reported on last year.

Yet, by the year's end, Mignogna would sever ties with Millennia, along with two dozen other employees. Huntington Bank fully vacated its frontal space in December. And today, the behemoth of building sits oddly quiet on an active Euclid Ave., save for occasional lights on, its HVAC humming and patrolling security guards.

Scene reached out by phone and email to get clarity on the state of the project.

A Millennia spokesperson responded via email: "The Centennial is a priority for the Millennia Companies given its commitment to Cleveland and the region," they said, "and will be a key focus for reinvestment."

In a separate statement, Millennia chalked their current business woes up to 4,600 units they accumulated from GMF Real Estate, most units of which were located in low-income areas, and thus received federal benefits. Due to "high crime" and Covid-era economics, Millennia was "presented challenges in rehabilitating a portion of these communities," a spokesperson for wrote.

Beneath those challenges lay some pretty heinous complaints from residents. Last December, Toledo's WTOL revealed dozens of tenant reports of "deplorable conditions"—from roaches and bedbugs to condoms and feces found in stairwells—regarding Millennia's Covenant House complex.

"I don't feel safe here," one resident told a WTOL reporter. "Not only don't I feel safe, I don't feel like it's home."

And back in 2022, an explosion tied to a gas leak rocked the Shorter College Garden Apartments in North Little Rock, Arkansas, which led tenants to seek $860 million in damages ($10,000 for every one of Millennia's 86,000 residents nationwide), along with $4.3 million in punitive damages.

In Downtown Cleveland, Millennia manages 75 Public Square and The Statler on Euclid Avenue, which have not yet been the subject of similar tenant complaints or woes. 
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