1.10 | 2011
Deal for properties near temporary casino suggests Frangos aims to capitalize on location
Seizing a downtown Cleveland real estate opportunity that the advent of casino gambling promises to enrich, developer and parking lot proprietor Louis Frangos is the new owner of most of a key block near Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field.
It's the first appearance of big-league bucks — $9 million — trying to stake out ground near the potential temporary casino at the Higbee Building and the planned casino to be built on Huron Road south of Tower City Center.
In a series of four transactions — the last as recent as last Monday, Jan. 3, and the oldest dating to November — a partnership linked to Mr. Frangos, USA Parking Systems Prospect LLC, shelled out a total of $9 million for most of the block on the southeast corner of Ontario Street and Prospect Avenue.
The properties include two buildings: the former home of Myers College, 112 Prospect, and the former Daughters of St. Paul Bookstore at 2105 Ontario, now the law offices of Stafford & Stafford. The purchases also include parking lots at Ontario and High Street near a city-owned parking garage next to the sports complex.
Through his administrative assistant, Mr. Frangos, president of USA Parking Co., declined comment.
Although Mr. Frangos transformed a boarded-up building at 1104 Prospect Ave. to the Prospect Place Apartments, he mainly has bought buildings and razed them to serve as surface parking lots or has purchased empty sites for use as parking. Previously, most of his acquisitions were in the eastern shadow of Progressive Field and south of the downtown Theater District.
Rock Gaming, the company created by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to develop casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati, may open a temporary casino later this year in the Higbee Building, diagonally across from the sites Mr. Frangos' partnership snatched up, and it hopes to build a permanent casino by 2013. The Ontario-Prospect area would need more parking if the casino proves the magnet gaming advocates hope it will be.
And then there was one …
Only one property on the block — the Stanley Block Building at 2121 Ontario, which dates to 1874 — still isn't owned by Mr. Frangos.
Macron Investment Co., a partnership controlled by downtown property investor George Maloof, owns the Stanley Block. However, a partnership controlled by the George and Nora Maloof Family Limited Partnership sold one of the adjoining High Street parking lots to USA Parking for $1.5 million last Monday, Jan. 3. Another smaller parcel used for parking was sold to USA Parking by Halkal Investments LLC, a Lakewood investment firm, for $875,000 on Jan. 3. The parking lots can hold about 60 cars, according to aerial photos of the site.
The city of Cleveland has condemned the boarded-up Stanley Block Building for violating fire safety codes and a lack of safe stairs. Tom Yablonsky, executive vice president of Downtown Cleveland Alliance and executive director of the Historic Gateway Neighborhood, said the neighborhood group is working with the Maloofs to keep the building from being condemned because it still can be restored to new use.
Mr. Yablonsky said Historic Gateway's master plan calls for buildings on the corner to be maintained and rehabilitated similar to the way MRN Ltd. has redeveloped the nearby East 4th Street Neighborhood as restaurants, entertainment venues and lofts.
The former Myers College building, also known as the Columbia Building, was owned by Mr. Maloof until
Myers predecessor Dyke College acquired it. USA Parking paid $1 million to Columbia Prospect LLC, the corporation that held the 1909-vintage structure, on Nov. 15, according to land records.
Stafford brothers do well
A clear winner among the former property owners are brothers Joseph and Vincent Stafford.
The two acquired the former St. Paul Catholic bookstore property in 2005 for $1 million. Land records show USA Parking paid the Staffords $5.9 million on Dec. 17.
In a phone interview, Vincent Stafford called the sale a “win-win” for the brothers, who are well-known as tough divorce lawyers, and the community.
Vincent Stafford said he and his brother are looking for another property to buy in downtown Cleveland to help kindle additional development. He said the firm needs at least 20,000 square feet of office space for its 30-person staff.
“Certain things fell into line for us,” he said.
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