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Sale or lease of vacated property sought
On the same day that Cleveland State University (CSU) celebrated completing the renovation of historic Fenn Tower, another aging property at the east end of its Downtown Cleveland main campus awaits a new, unknown fate.
On Friday, CSU issued a request for nonbinding letters of intent for the sale or lease of Joseph E. Cole Center for Continuing Education, 3100 Chester Ave.
The building most recently housed Campus International High School, which vacated the leased space at the end of June 2026. That Cleveland Metropolitan School District program was merged into the unified John Hay High School campus, 2075 Stokes Blvd.
The solicitation process for the Cole Center is open. And as nonbinding process, interested parties are invited to submit letters of intent, which the university will evaluate on economic value, financial strength, proposed use and community benefit, among other factors, CSU said in a written statement to local media.
Parties interested in submitting an letter of intent should contact Travis W. Jeric, CSU’s associate general counsel at t.jeric@csuohio.edu by e-mail before Nov. 3, 2026. A decision could made during the week of Nov. 23.
“This is a standard step in exploring options — including a potential sale or long-term lease — for a university-owned property that is no longer in active use,” said a CSU spokesperson.
“No decisions have been made, and any transaction would require negotiation of a definitive agreement, approval by CSU’s Board of Trustees, and — in the case of a sale — approval by the State of Ohio Controlling Board,” the spokesperson added.
The roughly 50,000-square-foot Cole Center sets on the southeast corner of Chester and East 30th Street, on nearly 2.4 acres of land owned by the state. CSU, a state university, acquired it in the early 1990s.
The entire structure — including its more visible four-story portion plus a two-story wing with a glassy facade along Chester — was built in 1958 as the offices for the Cleveland Engineering Society.
“We expect this process to unfold over the coming months,” the spokesperson continued. “We’ll have more to share as the process progresses.”
Fenn Tower was surrounded by protective fencing in 2024 in anticipation of repairs to be made starting the following the year. Those repairs were completed and the building reopened last week (Google).
In addition to Campus International High School, the building also housed studios for CSU’s radio station WCSB until 2025. That’s when the university shut down the student-run broadcast in a controversial move. WCSB radio 89.3 FM continues 24/7 as JazzNEO on Ideastream’s platform, a public media service licensed to CSU.
Cole Center is on the other side of the Inner Belt highway from most of CSU’s downtown campus. That includes the 22-story Fenn Tower which overlooks the highway from its site at 2450 Euclid Ave.
Although Fenn Tower was just renovated, it was done so to continue in service to the university as a residence hall for 450 first-year students. The 80-year-old building was falling into disrepair to such an extent that CSU considered demolishing it.
Instead it was renovated for $18 million including structural repairs, new bathrooms, updated bedrooms, lounges and more. The tower was built by and for the National Town and Country Club, but was only used for one event before closing during the Great Depression.
As a foundation for CSU in 1965, Fenn College began in 1923 as a private institution by Sereno Peck Fenn, one of the founders of Sherwin-Williams. Fenn College grew out of educational programs offered by the Cleveland YMCA since 1880.
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