Sherwin-Williams new headquarters tower has joined the family of Cleveland skyscrapers. But most of the company’s employees won’t join the tower for months after its official grand opening ceremony which is scheduled for March (Property of The Sherwin-Williams Company). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Tower repairs delay occupancy beyond March opening
Although the grand-opening ceremony for the new Sherwin-Williams headquarters tower has been set, repairs to already finished areas are pushing occupancy of the tower months farther into the future. Some employees told NEOtrans they don’t expect to migrate over to the new tower until next fall.
The ceremony will be held March 12 in a large, frame-reinforced tent set up on the north lawn of Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, according to a Jan. 2 letter that was e-mailed by AAble Rents of Euclid to the city’s Department of Building and Housing. The new 36-story headquarters tower, its two-story pavilion and five-level parking garage stand just to the west of Public Square.
AAble Rents said in its letter it was contracted by the global coatings giant to set up an 8,712-square-foot event tent, a 600-square-foot entry tent, and an ADA-compliant restroom trailer. Cost of the set-up with electrical power is estimated at $125,000, the letter and its building permit application shows. Set up is due to start March 4 with take-down scheduled for the day after the event.
Sherwin-Williams media relations staff did not respond to questions from NEOtrans prior to publication of this article. Some of the questions asked who would be invited to the grand opening ceremony. The grand-opening ceremony will be located on city-owned property. Although Public Square is managed by Downtown Cleveland Inc. as of last year.
For its groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 15, 2021, it was open only to VIPs. Company employees, the media and the general public were not permitted entry to that ceremony that was located on private property. AAble Rents also was contracted by Sherwin-Williams to accommodate that event.
This set-up and site plan for Sherwin-Williams’ March 12 grand-opening ceremony on the north lawn of Downtown Cleveland’s Public Square was submitted by AAble Rents to the city for approval. The new headquarters is located just out of view to the west (AAble Rents/Cleveland Department of Building and Housing).
Construction work on the tower, starting with site preparation, began months before the groundbreaking ceremony. Back then, Sherwin-Williams and its development team said it hoped to complete the building by the end of 2024.
But nearly a year ago, that began to appear unlikely. And now it appears that occupancy of the tower won’t happen until months after the grand-opening ceremony, either.
A source who spoke to NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity said construction contractors have run into undisclosed problems in the tower. The problems were described as a “major hiccup and flaw” that has to be repaired.
The source said spaces that were already finished have to be re-done, requiring work on some parts of the building to continue until the end of the year. But it’s not clear yet how the sequence and schedule of the repairs will play out, the source added.
Sherwin-Williams’ new headquarters tower as seen from the observation deck from Terminal Tower (Tom Ray).
Construction costs for the tower also have risen but the amount is unknown. Total costs for both the headquarters and Brecksville research center rose from $600 million to about $750 million as of two years ago.
That source and others correctly identified other headquarters construction issues, with one of the most significant being the installation of drainage in the 920-space parking garage off West 3rd Street. The sources said repairs delayed completion of the garage.
Company spokespersons did not respond to NEOtrans’ questions about the latest delays. Sherwin-Williams’ Building Our Future Web site which provides updates on the construction of its new downtown headquarters and suburban research facilities hasn’t been updated since November. The headquarters progress page was updated at least monthly throughout 2024.
Sherwin-Williams employees who work at the old headquarters, which is divided among the Landmark Building, 101 W. Prospect Ave., and the Skylight Office Tower, 1660 W. 2nd St., say they have been told varying dates of when their offices will migrate over to the new 616-foot-tall headquarters.
Sherwin-Williams’ headquarters is the fourth-largest skyscraper in Downtown Cleveland’s skyline, as seen here from Lakewood Park and is only about 40 feet shorter than the third-tallest, 200 Public Square (Tom Ray).
The different dates of their moves depend on where their offices will be in the tower. Offices in the lower part of the tower were built first and generally will be occupied first, starting as early as this summer. Persons working in offices that are to be relocated last said they probably won’t make the move until the fall, possibly around the Thanksgiving-Christmas holidays.
According to another source, this one who is familiar with Sherwin-Williams’ office space needs, the company extended its Skylight Office Tower lease to Oct. 31, 2025 in case of construction delays. Sherwin-Williams also may stay at its aging headquarters for an undetermined period even though that property was sold June 30, 2023 to an affiliate of Bedrock Real Estate.
Some employees were told as recently as a few months ago that they expected their offices to move after April, possibly this summer. That was based on instructions they received from management to not extend their parking subscriptions at downtown parking facilities beyond April.
Since then, employees were told to not commit themselves to any parking subscriptions beyond month-to-month arrangement if they aren’t sure they can walk from that facility to the new headquarters tower. The employees agreed to speak to NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity.
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