Rock Hall Acquires its Neighboring Building in Harbor Verandas

Cleveland's central business district is where office buildings are getting converted into new uses, often residential. On downtown's lakefront, however, a mostly residential building was just purchased and may get converted to offices by its new owner — someday.

For now, that new owner, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, will keep its newest acquisition on display and in use as it is being used now -- the three-story Harbor Verandas, 1050 E. 9th St. Instead, the Rock Hall's acquisition of the building and its 50-year ground lease with the Port of Cleveland is a long-term strategic move.

The Rock Hall confirmed the acquisition as did the seller — TurnDev. The Beachwood-based developer acquired the building and ground lease last year from Cumberland Development LLC of Cleveland. It will also manage the property for the Rock Hall.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Harbor Verandas was built for about $14 million but was appraised last year for taxes by Cuyahoga County at $7.68 million. Its land cannot be purchased by private entities because it was reclaimed from Lake Erie. The ground lease includes a 47-year extension option.

The strategic move is evident by the Rock Hall's geography. After the Rock Hall finishes its $150 million expansion to the west, which abuts the Great Lakes Science Center, it has no room left to expand. The reason is the Harbor Verandas crowds its eastern flank, only 60 feet away.

To the north is the North Coast Harbor inlet from Lake Erie. To the south is Erieview Avenue and a Shoreway highway that's about to be rebuilt as a multimodal boulevard so Downtown-scale development and public spaces can be extended north to the lakefront.

Harbor Verandas was built in 2018 by Cumberland and Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. It is a 50,000-square-foot building with 16 apartments over five ground-floor retail/office spaces fronting 29 heated indoor parking spaces.

“The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a longtime anchor of Cleveland’s lakefront," said a Rock Hall spokesperson in a written statement. "We share the goal and responsibility to build a more vibrant and active waterfront, attracting museum visitors and residents to spend time together enjoying the area."

"As we invest in our expansion, the Harbor Verandas (was) a natural acquisition to provide additional reasons for people to visit," the statement continued. "We want to attract businesses to the ground floor retail spaces that currently include a vacant restaurant and café. Second and third-floor residential leases remain in place.”

TurnDev spokesman Jon Pinney, the managing partner at the Downtown law firm Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP, said when the real estate firm bought Harbor Verandas last year from Cumberland, led by CEO Dick Pace, they had intended to keep it.

"Dick (Pace) built an incredible boutique residential project and, with the Metroparks taking over the harbor and surrounding park area, our intention was to hold the asset long term," Pinney told NEOtrans.

"The Rock Hall’s board leadership and CEO expressed an interest in owning the asset as part of its long-term master plan," he added. "TurnDev is a committed civic partner and we elected to sell the asset to the Rock Hall."

Pinney also confirmed that there are no plans to change the building's use at this time. Tenants of the building told NEOtrans they were not informed of any changes with the building's use or sale.

"TurnDev will continue to manage the asset under the Rock Hall’s control," he said. "We fully support the Rock Hall and are excited to see the Rock Hall’s vision come to together for the harbor and lakefront."

Last year, Rock Hall officials held discussions with Pace about acquiring Harbor Verandas but couldn't get a deal done. Yet the Rock Hall left open the possibility of revisiting purchase talks at some point.

"I had discussed with them the strategic value of the building since their new expansion uses the last available expansion space for their future," Pace told NEOtrans this week. "I wish them all the best for their future; they are an important piece of Cleveland’s economy."

A source who spoke with NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity last year said that the Rock Hall sought Harbor Verandas for a future conversion to an office building. Also, a ground-floor retail presence for the Rock Hall next to East 9th would allow people to visit it without going into the Rock Hall.

Last year, Pace said the Rock Hall's current cost of expansion per square foot is many times more than the value of Harbor Verandas. He said the deal at that time was that he would give them the building with its existing financing.

The Rock Hall's under-construction addition is a 50,000-square-foot wing to the 1995-built, 140,670-square-foot museum. Its construction cost is $3,000 per square foot — more than 10 times the cost of building the Harbor Verandas. Construction of the Rock Hall’s expansion started in October 2023.

Among display and performance spaces, the expansion includes about 6,000 square feet of new office space. Their current offices in the existing museum will be converted to display spaces. At the Harbor Verandas, each floor of apartments averages more than 15,000 square feet. 

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