Built as the Electric Building, the office building 700 Prospect will return to its original name but as apartments with a ground-floor sports bar one block from the Gateway sports and entertainment complex. That conversion led by K&D Group will start in early November (Ian Meadows). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
700 Prospect gains ground-floor sports bar
With financing closed, construction work will begin in the next couple of weeks on the $40 million rehabilitation and conversion of the historic 700 Prospect Ave. office building into apartments, called The Electric Building. And now the ground-floor has the end user of its lone commercial space identified — Tom’s Watch Bar, a national chain sports bar founded in 2014.
Owner and developer K&D Group of Willoughby, Northeast Ohio’s largest landlord, announced the signing of the tenant today. Tom’s Watch Bar will occupy 4,932 square feet on the first floor in what was the former chapel space for United Church of Christ. UCC previously owned the building for its national headquarters which relocated into the AECOM Building, 1300 E. 9th St.
“This will be the first new national retail concept to enter Downtown Cleveland in quite a while,” said Douglas Price IV, vice president of K&D Group, in a written statement. “Tom’s Watch Bar is a national chain that defines the ultimate sports watching entertainment experience.”
Promising “All the Sports, all the Time,” Tom’s Watch Bar’s highly curated sports programming covers all sports from collegiate to professional to international, big events and prize fights, even emerging obscure and outrageous sports, he said. Their central oversized stadium screen paired with hundreds of screens provides a 360-degree viewing experience.
Tom’s Watch Bar has a dozen locations throughout the United States. They are often located in or near major sports venues and entertainment districts of major cities. Their nearest location is in Pittsburgh. This will be their first offering in Ohio.
Tom’s Watch Bar has a dozen locations across the country with this venue in Pittsburgh being its closest to Cleveland. The Gateway District location in Downtown Cleveland will be its first in Ohio (Tom’s Watch Bar).
The Electric Building, is a nine-story building located on Prospect between East 9th and Ontario streets. The historic structure was completed in 1899, and was originally known as The Electric Building.
Price said financing for the renovation and conversion of the property closed through Tri-State Capital Bank. However site preparation work began on the building last year after funds were secured to clean it up and remove office-specific features in the building.
“We received a $5 million Brownfield grant for demolition and abatement two years ago which allowed us to completely demo and abate the building,” he said in e-mail to NEOtrans. “It’s currently a stripped-out shell ready for reconstruction. The reconstruction consists of 120 apartments that are 90 percent 1-bedroom units.”
Floors two through nine will contain the apartments, with some studios and two-bedroom units as well. Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits were awarded to the project in June of this year. The architect for the project is Berardi + Partner, LLC.
Construction will be performed by Mentor-based Cleveland Construction, Inc. which opened a satellite office across the street three years ago due to all of the new-construction and renovation projects it has been working on downtown. The general contractor has helmed all of K & D’s historic rehabilitation projects since The Residences at 668 in 2008.
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