Renovations will start in about two months to convert the Holiday Inn Express in Downtown Cleveland into the first AC Hotel by Marriott located in the city’s central business district. This entrance on Euclid Avenue will be closed for the duration of the construction work (SA Group). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM.
Euclid Ave entry closed amid construction
Condominium owners and other tenants of the historic New England Building, 629 Euclid Ave., got word this week that renovations will start soon to convert just over half of the building from a Holiday Inn Express into an AC Hotel by Marriott. This will be the first AC Hotel in Downtown Cleveland.
“Beginning January 2026, the hotel will be closed for major renovations,” according to an e-mail sent on behalf of building owner 629 Euclid Ltd. “The Holiday Inn Express will re-open as an AC by Marriott.”
The specific date of closure wasn’t revealed. But the Downtown Cleveland Holiday Inn Express by IHG is accepting reservations for overnight stays until Jan. 5-6 but not Jan. 6-7 or thereafter.
After Jan. 6, the hotel’s Web site says “No rooms available for selected dates.” The Downtown Cleveland Holiday Inn Express hotel opened in 1999 and has continuously been in business ever since.
The building at 629 Euclid Ave. has had lots of names in its 130 years. It was built as the New England Building, renamed the Guardian Building, then the National City Bank Building but has reverted back to its original name, save for a 1916-built addition which retains the Guardian Building name on building plans to convert the older structure to an AC Hotel (Google).
“The front Holiday In Express entrance off Euclid Avenue will not be accessible for the duration of the renovations,” the e-mail continued. “The renovations are expected to last 18 months. Access to the building will be through the back doors on Vincent Avenue.”
The Euclid Avenue entrance to the fine-dining restaurant The Marble Room is not affected by this work. That entrance is separate, located to the left or just west of the hotel’s main entrance.
NEOtrans broke the story in January of this renovation and change of hotel operators. Redeveloping the hotel is a partnership of the property owner Cleveland-based MRN Ltd., Moment Development of Columbus, and Indianapolis-based Mira Development. Mira announced the change on its Web site.
According to public records, the renovation work will cost about $12.1 million and focus on 120,762 square feet of the 227,426-square-foot building. That’s about 53 percent of the building’s floor space.
This façade, including the Corinthian columns, was a 1915-redesign of the original New England Building by young Cleveland architectural firm Walker & Weeks to make it look more like a bank. The job won the firm lots of design business from dozens of other banks (SA Group).
In its building permit application to the city’s Building Department, MRN’s Chief Operating Officer Joseph Del Re wrote that the project involves “Interior alterations to 17-story masonry building. Work area is on floors 1-15. Structural, plumbing, HVAC, electrical and fire protection permits required. Certificate of occupancy required.”
Plans for renovation were approved by the city per an Aug. 5 letter to Del Re, allowing construction permits to be purchased at any time in the 12 months following that notice. Permits have not been purchased yet. The project’s architects are Cleveland-based SA Group LLC and Cincinnati-based Luminaut Inc.
Total square footage for the property includes the 1896-built New England Building fronting Euclid and an addition built in back on Vincent Avenue after Guardian Savings and Trust Co. bought the property for its offices in 1915.
When the New England Building was built as a 15-story structure, it was Cleveland’s tallest and one of the tallest buildings in the USA. After Guardian folded in 1933 during the Great Depression, the building was steadily taken over by National City Bank for its headquarters.
Planned interior renovations for the AC Hotel’s lobby will provide a mix of contemporary and classic design features (SA Group, Luminaut).
The 1910s addition plus two more floors of rooftop office spaces built nearly a century later for interactive digital ad agency Rosetta were converted several years ago into condos and apartments as the Lofts at 629 Euclid plus the headquarters for real estate firm Stark Enterprises.
In 2017, after National City Bank was absorbed by PNC Bank in the Great Recession, the New England Building’s ostentatious Gilded Age banking lobby became the Marble Room Steak and Raw Bar.
MRN’s notice to the building’s residential occupants requested their patience during renovation work for the AC Hotel.
“Management will regularly update on the progress of this renovation,” the notice read. “If you access to the hotel side’s elevators, be aware that they will not be accessible during the construction. Thank you in advance for your patience during this time.”
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