Tower City Center facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tower City Center
View from Public Square
Location	230 West Huron Road, Cleveland, Ohio
History
Opened	June 29, 1930 (1930-06-29) (Terminal)
Closed	January 14, 1977 (1977-01-14) (Terminal)
Previous names	Cleveland Union Terminal
Former services Preceding station Erie Railroad Following station Terminus Cleveland – Youngstown East 55th toward Youngstown Preceding station Amtrak Following station Toledo toward Chicago Lake Shore Erie toward New York (Grand Central) Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station Linndale toward Chicago Main Line East Cleveland toward New York Linndale toward Cincinnati Cincinnati – Cleveland Terminus Linndale toward St. Louis Big Four Route Main Line Preceding station New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Following station Rocky River toward Chicago Nickel Plate District East Cleveland toward Buffalo Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station Terminus Cleveland – Akron – Wheeling 1940s–1962 Willow toward Wheeling Cleveland – Sterling – Wheeling 1934–1940s South Brooklyn toward Wheeling Cleveland – Akron – Valley Junction 1934–1940s Brooklyn toward Valley Junction
Union Terminal Group
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Architect	Graham, Anderson, Probst & White; Walker & Weeks
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts, Art Deco
NRHP reference No.	76001405
Added to NRHP	March 17, 1976

Tower City Center is a large mixed-use facility in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, on its Public Square. The facility is composed of a number of interconnected office buildings, including Terminal Tower, the Avenue shopping mall, Jack Cleveland Casino, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, Chase Financial Plaza, and Tower City station, the main hub of Cleveland's four RTA Rapid Transit lines.

The structure was built in 1929 as Cleveland Union Terminal. On March 17, 1976, the complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Rail terminal

The building complex was originally commissioned by the Van Sweringen brothers, prominent local railroad moguls and real estate developers. The center of the complex was Cleveland Union Terminal (CUT), a terminal for all trains coming into Cleveland via the various railroad lines in a concept similar to Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

When Cleveland Union Terminal was built, the train station allocated the northern set of tracks for interurban or rapid transit service and the southern set of tracks for inter-city rail service. The portion of the station above the interurban tracks was called the Traction Concourse and the portion above the intercity train tracks was called the Steam Concourse. The Van Sweringen brothers envisioned a network of interurban lines extending from the CUT in all directions. They even acquired right-of-way for some of the lines.

The complex was designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & 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. From its completion until 1964, the Terminal Tower was the tallest building in North America outside of New York City. 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 Complex and were completed in 1929. In addition to the new buildings, the 1918 Hotel Cleveland was connected to the complex. Cleveland Union Terminal was dedicated and officially opened in 1930.

The facility 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.

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 building designed by the firm of Walker and Weeks. It was known as M.K. Ferguson Plaza under the ownership of Forest City Enterprises.

The Union Terminal served most rail lines: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, New York Central Railroad and Nickel Plate Road. Exceptions were the Pennsylvania Railroad and initially the Erie Railroad.

Notable trains, particularly for their destinations included:

• Baltimore and Ohio:
  • Cleveland Night Express (Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Baltimore)
  • Washingtonian (Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Baltimore)
• Erie Railroad:
  • Steel King (Cleveland-Pittsburgh)
• New York Central:
  • Cleveland Mercury (Detroit-Cleveland)
  • Empire State Express (Cleveland-New York)
  • Fifth Avenue Special (Chicago-Cleveland-New York)
  • Ohio State Limited (Cincinnati-Cleveland-New York, in some years stopping for east-bound trips only)
  • Pacemaker (Chicago-Cleveland-New York, in some years stopping for east-bound trips only)
  • Southwestern Limited (St. Louis-Cleveland-New York)
• Nickel Plate (Norfolk and Western in final year of service):
  • Nickel Plate Limited (Chicago-Buffalo) [later named City of Chicago westbound/City of Cleveland eastbound]
  • Blue Arrow (Cleveland-St. Louis)/Blue Dart (St. Louis-Cleveland)

However, the station was never particularly popular with the railroads. 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 [examples of the latter case: the New York Central Railroad's Lake Shore Limited and the New England States]. Several east–west routes by-passed the city to the south, passing through Akron or Youngstown. 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. The Erie RR, owned by the Van Sweringens, could not afford the electric transfer and continued to use its own nearby station until 1948, when it replaced steam with diesel locomotives and was able to serve the Union Terminal under its own power.

In the lead-up to the arrival of Amtrak, in 1970 the Erie Lackawanna ran an unnamed train to Youngstown. The Penn Central (successor to the New York Central) Chicago-bound trains stopping at the terminal included an unnamed remnant of the Empire State Express and another unnamed train. East-bound, there was an unnamed successor to the New England States, as well as two other unnamed trains. Southwest-bound there was an Indianapolis-destined remnant of the Southwestern Limited, and an Ohio State Limited remnant bound for Columbus.

Amtrak's short-lived Lake Shore served Union Terminal for seven months in 1971, but the railroad found the rents prohibitive. When the new Lake Shore Limited began in 1975 Amtrak chose to construct a new station near Lake Erie adjacent to the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway. The new Amtrak station is located near the former Cleveland Union Depot, once served by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The former Erie Railroad commuter service, ultimately inherited by Conrail, was discontinued on Jan. 14, 1977, ending the facility's use as a railroad station.

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  Concourse in 1987

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  Former departure board

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  Platforms converted into parking decks

Shopping mall

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 three-story, 367,000 square foot shopping mall and food court known as The Avenue, which opened on March 26, 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. When the already renamed Tower City Center reopened, the mall housed many high-end retailers, including Bally of Switzerland, Barneys New York, Fendi, Gucci, Versace, and even had a letter of intent from Neiman Marcus to build a 120,000-square foot anchor store in 1992. Over the following 25 years, many of those shops were replaced by more modest stores, some of them local retailers.

In 1991, two new 11-story office towers, the Skylight Office Tower and the Chase Financial Plaza, were added. The Chase Building houses Cleveland's Ritz-Carlton Hotel and The Skylight Office Tower housed the former Hard Rock Cafe. 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. Positively Cleveland (formerly the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland) and the Greater Cleveland Partnership (the local chamber of commerce) opened offices in the Higbee Building in 2007. Until late 2010, the Cleveland Plus Visitors Center occupied the first floor. The building was opened on May 14, 2012 as the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. After Rock Gaming LLC took over management of the Horseshoe, the casino was transformed into Jack Cleveland Casino and reopened on May 11, 2016.

In 2001, Time Warner Cable Amphitheater opened as an outdoor stage along the Cuyahoga River near the Tower City Complex. A site on the Cuyahoga River side of the complex was proposed as a location for a new Cleveland convention center, but in January 2009 the Cuyahoga County Commissioners decided to redevelop the existing facility.

Former rapid transit stations

Former Red Line station

Public Square
rapid transit station
Red line platforms
Owned by	Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Construction
Structure type	Underground
History
Opened	March 15, 1955
Closed	1980s-1990s
Previous names	Cleveland Terminal
Original company	Cleveland Transit System
Key dates
Interurban platforms built	July 20, 1930
Platforms rebuilt	1955
Former services Preceding station Rapid Transit Following station Lorain–West 25th toward Airport Red Line East 34th–Campus toward Louis Stokes–Windermere

The Red Line took the place of a never-completed interurban line. An additional vault for that line was located at Mayfield Road, now the Little Italy–University Circle station.

History

The Shaker rapid transit remained the only service using the interurban portion of the CUT for 25 years. When the Cleveland Transit System built its rapid transit (later designated the Red Line) in 1955 (using much of the right-of-way previously developed by the Van Sweringens), another rapid transit station was built in the former interurban area of the CUT to serve it. Since the CTS Rapid Transit (Red Line) and the Shaker rapid transit (Green and Blue Lines) were owned by different entities at the time, there was no fare transfer between the trains, and the stations were entirely separate.

In 1968, the Cleveland Transit System line finished its extension through Cleveland's west side to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Cleveland became the first North American city with direct rapid transit access from downtown to an airport.

Both lines became part of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority when it assumed control on September 5, 1975. The two stations remained separate until December 17, 1990, when a completely new station was completed with the development of Tower City Center.

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  Main Red Line entrance in 1980s

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  Secondary Red Line entrance in 1980s

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  Red Line platform in 1980s looking east

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  End of platform

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  The entrance to the CTS station in 1968

Former Shaker Rapid station

Tower City
light rail station
Temporary platforms in August 2016
Owned by	Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Construction
Structure type	Underground
History
Opened	July 20, 1930 July 31, 2016 December 28, 2020
Closed	1980s-1990s November 26, 2016
Previous names	Public Square, Downtown Terminal, Cleveland Terminal
Original company	Cleveland Interurban Railroad
Former services Preceding station Rapid Transit Following station 2016 West 25th–Ohio City toward Airport Red Line also 2020 East 34th–Campus One-way operation through to Waterfront Line Blue Line Green Line Settlers Landing toward South Harbor Waterfront Line through to Blue and Green Lines Until 1980s Terminus Blue Line East 34th–Campus toward Warrensville–Van Aken Green Line East 34th–Campus toward Green Road

These platforms opened with the extension of the Cleveland Interurban Railroad from just east of the ramp at East 34th Street and Broadway in 1930.

History

Since the Van Sweringens owned Cleveland Interurban Railroad which served the suburb of Shaker Heights, the interurban portion of the CUT was immediately occupied by the Shaker trains upon completion on July 20, 1930. (Previously, the Shaker trains had used streetcar tracks to reach downtown from East 34th Street, which caused significantly slower service.) The Shaker rapid transit station was located along the northernmost tracks of the complex, and it included a small yard for the storage of a few trains and a loop to allow trains to reverse direction. Development of the other interurban services, however, was stalled by the Great Depression, which hit the Van Sweringens particularly hard. By 1944, ownership of the Shaker rapid transit passed to the city of Shaker Heights.

The Shaker and Van Aken lines became part of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority when it assumed control on September 5, 1975. The two stations remained separate until December 17, 1990, when a completely new station was completed with the development of Tower City Center.

The platform was temporarily re-opened for westbound passengers in 2016 and 2020.

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  Stair and Elevator Access

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  Platform signage

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  Former Shaker platforms

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  Platform view of turnstiles

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  Platforms in the 1980s