As previously reported by NEOtrans, AmTrust will split up its office presence in Greater Cleveland. Its downtown offices will move to the AECOM Building seen here where it make a large investment to update and enhance its space (Google). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
But partial relocation to suburbs still planned
Even as AmTrust takes steps to divide up its Downtown Cleveland offices into suburban and downtown locations, the financial services company is about to make a major investment into its new downtown offices at the AECOM Building, 1300 E. 9th St., according to plans filed with the city this week.
Ironically, that investment — a $14 million office renovation — is more than three times what AmTrust’s current office tower sold for earlier this month. AmTrust is legally headquartered in New York City but most of its administrative, operating and sales functions are based here in Cleveland.
NEOtrans broke the story a month ago that AmTrust at the end of this year would vacate its home of the last 15 years at 800 Superior. Its lease at the former Central National Bank headquarters is due to expire at year’s end.
It has leased roughly 300,000 square feet at the 587,118-square-foot office tower at 800 Superior Ave., a property that includes a 328-space parking garage at 735 Vincent Ave.
Also at the end of this year, the property will lose its second-largest tenant, National General Insurance of Charlotte, whose lease will also expire at the same time. National General is owned by Chicago-based Allstate which had owned 800 Superior until last month.
By the end of this year, AmTrust is vacating 800 Superior, its home of the last 15 years, for the AECOM building at upper right and a former Progressive Insurance office building in Mayfield Heights (CBRE).
NEOtrans also broke the story that 800 Superior would be bought by Superior & East 9th LLC, an affiliate of the Kassouf family. That transfer took place May 1, with the Kassouf affiliate paying a mere $4 million for the 23-story office tower, Cuyahoga County property records show.
“This transaction tells the story of downtown,” said Terry Coyne, Executive Vice Chairman of the Cleveland office of the global real estate services firm Newmark. “There will be winners and quite a few losers. And you can already identify who the winners and losers will be. Real estate is a very slow business and once it starts going in one direction, it’s tough to change it.”
AmTrust will lease out the entirety of a 102,062-square-foot former Progressive Insurance office building, 6055 Parkland Blvd., in Mayfield Heights. The building is next to Interstate 271 but should not be confused with larger, former Progressive headquarters buildings farther north along the highway.
According to sources who spoke to NEOtrans on the condition of anonymity, most of AmTrust workforce from downtown will relocate to suburban Mayfield Heights. But some of AmTrust’s office workers, perhaps one-third, will remain downtown.
But what wasn’t known at that time was how much AmTrust intended to invest in its downtown digs. As it turns out, it’s a lot.
The AECOM Building on East 9th Street at St. Clair Avenue was built in 1974 as the Bond Court Office Building, just as the Westin at left was built as the Bond Court Hotel (LoopNet).
A permit application submitted to the city’s Building Department on May 21 by Dani Franklin, project interior designer at architectural firm Corgan based in Phoenix, AZ, shows AmTrust intends to spend $14 million on its new downtown location. That’s after spending $200,000 to do interior demolition to clear out the space.
AmTrust plans an “Interior tenant improvement with architectural, electrical, mechanical and plumbing modifications,” Franklin wrote in the permit application.
“I’m very happy that they have decided to remain partially downtown and invest in the city’s future,” Coyne said. He and his staff oversee leasing at the AECOM Building. “Of course it’s always great when you get private investment into your city. We need more of it.”
Total amount of office space to be occupied at AmTrust on the second and third floors at the AECOM Building is 51,397 square foot. The space to be occupied will be divided unequally among the two floors.
In fact, the application notes that AmTrust is physically and legally allowed to have up to 351 workers and visitors on one floor and 394 on the other — for a total of 745 people. But that doesn’t mean that AmTrust will have that many employees downtown.
AmTrust plans to relocate most of its downtown workforce to this building on Parkland Boulevard next to Interstate 271 in east-suburban Mayfield Heights (LoopNet).
What still isn’t known is how many of AmTrust’s workers are moving and where. More than 1,000 workers are located in Greater Cleveland with about 600 of them working in the office, downtown. But AmTrust is enforcing a return-to-the office mandate, company e-mails show.
AmTrust spokesperson Chaya Cooperberg is out of town and unavailable for comment until after May 26, according to an automated response to an e-mail sent by NEOtrans.
The 800 Superior building was 77 percent leased in 2024 when it was listed for sale by owner Allstate Corp. and its real estate broker CBRE in 2024. It is possible that the building may remain predominantly as an office property and that Kassouf’s purchase was a value buy.
CBRE said in its marketing materials that market guidance suggests a fair price for the property was about $15 million. It was appraised by the county for taxes last year at $19.6 million — a $10 million drop from 2022. But in 2011 the building was nearly vacant when Allstate acquired it and the associated parking garage for $7.46 million.
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