The I-X Center, one of the nation's largest privately run convention facilities, has shut its doors after a 35-year run.
The Cleveland complex's longtime manager announced the closure Wednesday, Sept. 16, citing the coronavirus pandemic as the cause. The building has been idle since March, when the state barred mass gatherings and most events to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Wednesday's news left producers of major events in limbo and raised questions about the future of the property, which is owned by the city of Cleveland but leased to operator I-X Center Corp., an affiliate of the Park Corp. business conglomerate.
"We need some direction from the city ... and I hope we have that soon," said Tom Baugh, CEO of Marketplace Events, a Solon-based company that produces major home shows and other consumer events across North America.
In an emailed statement late Wednesday, the city thanked Park Corp. founder Ray Park for managing the center and acknowledged the pain wrought by the pandemic. The city said it "will be reviewing options relative to the future uses" for the property.
The city tucked the statement into a daily email update on the coronavirus. In response to questions from Crain's Cleveland Business, a city spokeswoman said that Mayor Frank Jackson's administration isn't granting interviews.
Councilman Charles Slife, whose West Side ward includes the I-X Center and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, said he was caught by surprise.
"This is news to me, just as it's news to everybody," he said, adding that he hopes there's a way to maintain the 2.2 million-square-foot building as a venue for major events.
In a news release, I-X Center Corp. said the pandemic has "decimated" the industry. The company furloughed 76 full- and part-time employees and 100 seasonal workers in the spring, according to a filing with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
"The closing illustrates the devastating economic effect of COVID-19 on the events, conventions and tourism industries for organizations, their employees and the ancillary businesses that count on places like the I-X Center to drive patrons to their establishments," David Gilbert, president and CEO of Destination Cleveland, wrote in an email.
The local convention and visitors' bureau also was blindsided by Wednesday's announcement. The organization only had one convention and one repeating sports event lined up at the I-X Center over the next few years, he said, and Destination Cleveland's sales team is reaching out to those clients.
"There is no question that the effects of COVID made the business model of the I-X Center untenable," Baugh said. "There's no question about that; however, it is safe to say that the business model was under stress prior to COVID."
Marketplace Events puts on the Great Big Home and Garden Show, scheduled for February, and the Cleveland Home and Remodeling Expo, set for March, at the I-X Center. Representatives for those events and the Cleveland Auto Show, produced by the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers' Association, have been talking to city officials for years about what might happen if I-X Center Corp. threw in the towel.
"It really comes down to the city of Cleveland and what will they be able to do," said Lou Vitantonio, president of the auto dealers. "Can the city find someone to operate that building, or operate it themselves?"
Built in 1942 as the Cleveland Bomber Plant, the complex served as airplane and tank manufacturing space and, later, soybean storage. Entrepreneur Ray Park, now in his 90s, acquired the complex in the late 1970s in hopes of creating an international trade mart.
Instead, in 1985, he opened the International Exposition Center. Over the years, Park opened additional exhibit spaces in the complex and installed a 10-story Ferris wheel that can hold up to 160 riders.
The city acquired the property in early 1999, in the midst of a messy eminent domain fight with neighboring Brook Park and discussions about a potential airport expansion. The I-X Center Corp. leased back the property and continued to operate the facility. People familiar with the lease said the current extension stretches into 2024.
If the city can't find a way to reopen the building as an events center, the property might be appealing for distribution, logistics or aerospace-related uses, said Bob Redmond, managing partner, managing director of real estate advisory services firm Mohr Partners in Cleveland.
Perhaps Amazon, the e-commerce giant with a seemingly insatiable appetite for warehouse space, or delivery company FedEx Corp. might be interested, he said. Or maybe there's a government or military use that might suit the massive space, Redmond suggested.
"It's such a shame," he said, recalling the many car shows, garden shows and home shows he and his wife have attended over the years.
Vitantonio and Baugh said those events could migrate downtown to the smaller Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland, but there are challenges related to space, timing and parking. They're hoping that this week's closure isn't the final verdict.
"The story today is that the I-X Center is closed," Baugh said, "but I don't think that is the end of the story."
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IX Center closes, felled by coronavirus pandemic - Crain's Cleveland Business
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