Writing for the Tennessean, business health care reporter Getahn Ward claims that "Cleveland scores first in medical mart race with Nashville."

Following a momentous ground breaking where a laundry list of prospective tenants, conferences, conventions and trade shows planned for the $465 million mart and convention center were announced, Ward writes that Cleveland "scored major points" in the med-mart public relations battle battle.

Jorge Lagueruela, president of North Carolina's Trinity Furniture, a future tenant of Cleveland's Medical Mart, goes so far as to predict Cleveland's position as national leader in the field:

"Cleveland is doing it. Nashville is talking about it," Hughes is quoted as saying. "From the standpoint of the health-care industry, Cleveland is going to become the hub in the United States, and this new center is going to be the beacon for that."

Shrugging off concerns that Nashville is behind, with very few actual commitments, Nashville mart leasing consultant Jeff Haynes says, "Historically, Nashville hasn't been a pre-leasing market. In any asset class, people normally want to see the brick-and-mortar and to touch the facility. As the new convention center nears completion, then your leasing velocity will intensify and increase for the medical mart."

Michael Hughes, the managing director of research and consulting at Red 7 Media in Scottsdale called Cleveland's list of conventions impressive, adding that a successful medical convention and meetings business probably will drive permanent showroom leases.

Read the whole report here.