Tower City Center
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Tower City Center (formerly known as Cleveland Union Terminal) is a large mixed-use facility located on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The facility is comprised of a number of interconnected office buildings including the landmark Terminal Tower, a shopping mall, two hotels, and the main hub of Cleveland's three rapid transit lines.
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[edit] Construction and train station
The Cleveland Union Terminal was built by the Van Sweringen brothers as a terminal for all trains coming into Cleveland via the various railroad lines in a concept similar to New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The facility also 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 Terminal Tower on the northeast side of the complex facing Public Square. From its completion until 1967, the Terminal Tower was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City. Cleveland Union Terminal also served as the downtown station for the Van Sweringen's new Shaker Heights Rapid Transit Line.
The complex was designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White. 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 Terminal Tower opened to its first tenants in 1928. 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 buildings are collectively known as the Landmark Office Towers and were completed in 1929. In addition to the new buildings, the 1918 Hotel Cleveland (now the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel) was connected to the complex. Cleveland Union Terminal was dedicated and officially opened in 1930.
The Union Terminal served all rail lines - except for the Pennsylvania Railroad - from completion until 1973. It was never particularly popular, however. It required deviating from the quicker route along Lake Erie. 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 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. 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.
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 connected building designed by the firm of Walker and Weeks, today known as M.K. Ferguson Plaza.
In 1968, the Cleveland Transit System line finished its extension through Cleveland's west side to Hopkins International Airport and Cleveland became the first North American city with direct rapid rail transit access from downtown to an airport.
[edit] Cleveland Union Terminal becomes Tower City
In 1973, Amtrak chose to move out of the station, instead serving a small station along the lake route, ending the facility's use as a train station. However, the three rapid transit lines, which by 1975 were all controlled by the newly created Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority continued service.
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 mall and food court known as The Avenue, which opened in 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. The complex was renamed Tower City Center in 1991.
In 1991, two new 11-story office towers, the Skylight Office Tower and the Chase Financial Tower, were added. The Chase Building houses Cleveland's Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The retail component, called The Avenue, contained stores such as Fendi, Gucci and Barney's of New York. 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) closed its department store in the complex in January 2002, and it remains largely vacant. Plans have been announced for the Cleveland Convention and Visitor's Bureau and the Greater Cleveland Partnership (the local chamber of commerce) to open joint offices in the Higbee Building in 2007.
In 2001, Tower City Amphitheater opened as an outdoor stage along the Cuyahoga River near the Tower City Complex. Plans for a new convention center in Cleveland are currently under discussion, and one of the proposed sites for a new center sits next to Tower City on the Cuyahoga River side of the complex.
Tower City is also home to the Cleveland Hard Rock Cafe.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Herrick, Clay. Cleveland Landmarks (1986) ISBN 0-964645-90-4
- Johannesen, Eric. Cleveland Architecture 1876-1976 (1979) ISBN 0-911704-21-3
- Rarick, Holly. Progressive Vision: The Planning of Downtown Cleveland 1903-1930 (1986) ISBN 0-910386-86-2
- Van Tassel, David. Grabowski, John. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987) ISBN 0-253-33056-4
[edit] External links
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