Bad news first: The county's long-planned Medical Mart and convention center will cost more than promised — about $40 million more, and developer MMPI is only picking up a small portion of that. But the good news is that MMPI also has in hand letters of intent from companies and organizations that hope to use the facility when it's completed.

Attorney Jeff Applebaum, who negotiates for the county with MMPI, revealed these facts in a presentation to the county commissioners last week. According to Applebaum, as of Sept. 19, 37 medical companies had signed on to display their products to the doctors and healthcare professionals who are expected to visit the medmart. Assuming they follow through, those companies would occupy 80,000 of the 90,000 square feet of showroom space. MMPI also has preliminary deals with the organizers of eight conferences and eight trade shows, Applebaum reported.

The new estimated price, $465 million, is $40 million higher than previously disclosed totals — despite the fact that the latest designs reflect a smaller facility. According to the Plain Dealer, the cost rose after a consultant advised improving the ballroom by raising the ceiling and removing sight-obstructing columns, and building a separate entrance for food service.

MMPI will kick in $8.5 million of the additional costs, according to the Plain Dealer, and the rest will be covered by a $50 million contingency fund — the existence of which was itself a surprise. The county will cobble together the rest from the existing .25-percent additional sales tax, a 1-percent hotel bed tax and, as County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones told WKSU, by "clawing back $1 million  from Positively Cleveland," the tourism marketing bureau.

Last week the City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the plans. Groundbreaking is expected this fall.

Source: Cuyahoga County Planning Commission blog
Writer: Frank W. Lewis