BACKGROUND
Cleveland Athletic Club (“CAC”) was constructed in 1911 as a 15-story private club catering to individuals interested in athletics. This white terra cotta and brick building was designed by J. Milton Dyer who also designed Cleveland City Hall. CAC members included prominent figures such as businessman and former Mayor Charles Otis along with 1920’s aquatics Olympic medal winner Johnny Weissmueller also known for his acting as Tarzan. After decades of prominence in the Cleveland community, CAC ultimately ran into financial difficulty and became vacant in 2007.
project
A new future is in store for CAC with a vision for adaptive reuse that will retain many of the iconic features of the original club (including the 50-meter pool where Weissmueller swam) and reimagine it for a 21st-century community. The historically sensitive adaptive reuse of this Cleveland icon will convert CAC into thirteen floors of one- and two-bedroom residential units, one floor of office space and one level of ground floor retail.
community impact
Future residents and tenants of CAC will benefit from its central location in Downtown Cleveland which is walking distance to Cleveland’s sports teams’ stadiums, including the Browns, Indians, and Cavs, as well as various museums and cultural destinations like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. CAC’s location will also help address the major population growth downtown and desired lifestyle to live, work, and play in the same place.
NTCIC’s HTC Community Fund I will invest $11 million in federal Historic Tax Credits expected to be generated by the redevelopment. CAC is NTCIC’s fifth closed project into its HTC Community Fund I. It is anticipated that CAC’s redevelopment will build on the economic and redevelopment success that have spurred the revitalization of downtown Cleveland.